Redemption
by AliasScribe
Summary: What happens between Alek/Chloe after finale.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story about how things between Alek/Chloe play out after the finale. Contains some spoilers. Basically if it's on the interwebs, you might find it referenced here so proceed with caution.

No copyright infringement intended. I own nothing. I promise to return the characters in (more or less) the same condition I found them.

REDEMPTION - 1

This was ridiculous.

Two weeks was long enough. They needed to talk about things. Chloe resolutely opened her window and agilely climbed out onto her roof. She didn't see the shadowy figure that she was looking for anywhere in sight but her "cat sense" told her that someone was watching her. He did have the ability to stay out of sight when he wanted to and in the last two weeks, he had clearly wanted to as she had only caught flashes of him here and there at school. In the last week, however, she hadn't seen him at all.

She sighed and called out into the night, just loud enough for a Mai super-ear to pick up,

"Alek." No response came so she continued to talk to the night air, knowing he could hear. "This is silly. We can't ignore each other forever. Can't we at least talk about this?" She looked around, using her keen night vision to detect some movement but there was nothing. "Alek. . .please."

Just then, a soft rustling caused her to jerk to her right and she breathed a sigh of relief as a figure came toward her.

"Alek.. . ." she began then stopped abruptly when the figure turned not into the tousled, brown-haired boy who had a special talent for being able to be equal parts charming and aggravating, but into one of Valentina's Mai guards. She had seen him around before, but had never learned his name.

Of all the nights that she had decided to go up to her roof and start talking to the air like a fool, she had picked the night that Alek was off "Uniter duty." Smart move, she chided herself. "Um. . .is Alek taking the night off?" She cringed. Obvious and very stupid question. Tonight was clearly not her night for making smart moves.

The guard shook his head, a sympathetic smile on his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you but you sounded like you really wanted to talk to Alek."

She chuckled sheepishly. "Um. . .yeah. . .is he taking the night off?" The look on the guard's face shifted almost imperceptibly but because of her heightened senses, she caught it. He had gone from sympathy to borderline pity which caused her stomach to churn with nervous tension. "What? What's going on?"

The guard hesitated before he said gently,

"Alek's not going to be on guard duty with you anymore. He's gone."

#

Gone.

One word. So many questions. An endless sleepless night.

Chloe was up and out of bed, dressed and ready to go before her alarm even beeped. Now that she had a car, it was much easier for her to go somewhere if she needed to and she really, really needed to right now. She drove carefully and patiently to the tall apartment building that was almost her second home and then contained her pent-up energy for the elevator ride up to the 18th floor.

Knocking on the door with the large number "1803" she tried to settle herself. After a few minutes, a sleepy looking Jasmine opened the door and looked at her with a measure of surprise and anger. "Chloe? It's not even 7 am."

"I'm sorry, but this is important."

Jasmine looked at her for a beat before stepping aside to let her into the darkened apartment. The sun was just beginning to rise and with the apartment's panoramic view of the San Francisco skyline, it made for a spectacular vista. On any other day, Chloe would have been enthralled by it, but not today.

"Where's Alek?"

Jasmine's eyes widened at her question before a guarded look settled over her features. "Why do you care?" The hostility was evident in her voice and Chloe tried not to react to it. Jasmine's anger was understandable. Alek was like her brother, having been adopted by Jasmine's mom Valentina, head of the San Francisco Mai pride, when he had transformed and had to leave his adopted parents and home in London. He had told her a little about that and from what she had gathered, that had been a rough period for him. While Alek and Jasmine liked to tease each other, the love and affection between them was always evident.

"Jasmine, I. ."

"You're a liar," said Jasmine, cutting her off.

"What?"

"Remember that day in your store, when I told you Alek deserved someone who wanted him for who he was?" Chloe nodded. "You told me you would never do anything to hurt him." Jasmine's penetrating brown eyes, so similar to her mother's, bore into Chloe. "You lied."

Chloe winced. "I didn't. . ."

"Just go be with your human," Jasmine said dismissively. "Now that we know you're exempt from the curse because you're the almighty Uniter, there's nothing stopping you from being with him." Jasmine shook her head. "Why are you even here? Why do you even care where Alek is?"

"Brian and I aren't. . ." Chloe sighed. That was another too-complicated to explain quickly situation. When Brian had kissed her, and then hadn't died, she had been stunned but relieved because she had been sure that in that moment of weakness, she had killed yet another innocent person. But then she had realized that she hadn't, that the curse somehow didn't apply to her. Valentina, the expert on all things Mai for her, hadn't been able to explain it, but had guessed that a lot of things were different for Chloe because she was the Uniter.

Or as Chloe liked to sometimes think of it, she came with an extra scoop (or two) of freak.

But kissing Brian had also produced another feeling, one that she hadn't expected at all but which had given her great clarity, albeit much too late. Brian had been that thing she couldn't touch, couldn't have, and Chloe knew that she had a stubborn streak inside of her about two miles wide and when told that she couldn't or can't, she would want to all the more. Brian was also a nice, cute, older guy. And normal, relentlessly normal, which given the last several months of her life, held tremendous appeal for her. So the idea of being with him, of course she couldn't let go of it easily. Of course she had stubbornly held on to it.

But then they had kissed and the kiss, while nice, lacked. Lacked the sweetness and simmering desire of her kisses with Alek. Lacked the passion that she had thought it would hold. Lacked the ability to cause the butterflies in her stomach to flutter, to rouse that dueling feeling within her. Every time she had kissed Alek she had felt like there was an inner battle going on. She both wanted to keep kissing him, and more, but she also felt this fear, almost panic, that made her pull away much sooner than she wanted. She had thought it was because she was in love with Brian and her conscience was making her feel guilty but now she knew it was something else.

Her kiss with Brian was a nice kiss, and that was all. No passion, no elation, no nervousness. Just nice, like he was. And she knew that if she were truly in love with Brian, there would have been more. Should have been more.

Of course, there was also the fact that she had also discovered that his father was involved in the mysterious organization known as "The Order" whose mission, its sole mission it appeared, was to kill her. . .over and over until she had expended every single one of the lives she had left. It was all very Romeo-and-Juliet-esque but Chloe had always viewed that story as a tragedy and the ending, in a word, sucked. She had no desire to die again, much less for Brian, so she had finally and truly severed all ties to him. She had finally realized that things weren't going to work out between them, for many reasons, and his father trying to kill her didn't even rank as the top one.

"I haven't talked to Brian in almost two weeks."

Jasmine looked surprised by this but the angry, guarded expression didn't shift. "Aren't you in love with him?"

She sighed. "Alek told you."

"Of course he did."

"Jasmine, it's not like that." She expelled a loud breath in frustration. Why was all this so hard? How did it get so messed up? "I'm. . .I'm sorry okay? I never meant to hurt Alek and in my defense, he was Mai eavesdropping and I didn't say I was in love with Brian. I said I thought I was."

"And now you're not?" Jasmine said incredulously. "Do you think people are here just for your amusement? That you can play with their feelings while you figure out what the hell you're doing?"

"I'm sixteen," Chloe cried. "And only found out a few months ago that I'm not human anymore and supposedly the savior of some sacred, ancient race. And that I have superpowers like Spiderman only with cat abilities instead of spider ones." She held up her hands. "You know for most people, that's enough to get them a long stay in a padded cell so could you maybe, possibly, give me a little break here? I know I screwed things up okay? I know I hurt him and I'm sorry. I really am."

Jasmine stared at her for long moments before her expression finally softened, but only slightly. "You should have been honest with Alek."

"I have been," she insisted. "I've been more honest with Alek than anyone I know. I tell him things that no one else knows, including Amy and Paul and my own mother. He knew I was still trying to sort things out between me and Brian and that I cared about him. I never lied to him about that."

"But you told him it was over between you and Brian."

"I wanted it to be," she said. "I knew it should be. Brian and I could never be together."

"Now you can," Jasmine pointed out. "Nothing's stopping you."

"Except his father trying to end my life? Repeatedly?"

"Brian doesn't seem like his father." At Chloe's questioning look, Jasmine smiled. "You didn't think we'd investigate immediately upon discovering that little connection?"

"Does Alek know about all of that?" Jasmine nodded. "He doesn't. . ." Chloe sighed. "He doesn't think I'm not with Brian only because of that does he?"

"Aren't you?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "No. When I kissed Brian. . .I just, I realized that I didn't really love him. That he's not who I want to be with, and that was before I found out about his father, which, admittedly did seal the deal but that coffin was already shut tight. His father was just the last nail."

"Why don't you want to be with Brian?"

"Because I want to be with Alek."

Jasmine looked at her doubtfully. "You can't keep bouncing between these two guys."

"I'm not," Chloe insisted.

"You're telling me if Brian were to come sweeping in here right this moment and assuming I don't rip his face off, you wouldn't want to be with him?" Chloe opened her mouth to answer but Jasmine pressed on. "Or someone else. Now that you know you're not lethal to humans, your choices have just increased. What if another boy came along?" Jasmine shook her head. "You only think you want to be with Alek 'cause you're between options right now."

Wow, that's harsh, thought Chloe. "You don't understand."

"No, you don't," Jasmine bit out as her eyes glinted dangerously. Because jasmine was calmer and less impulsive, it was easy to forget that she was just as, if not more, dangerous than Alek when he lost his temper. "What you did. . ." Jasmine shot her a contemptuous look. "If you were anyone else, I would have. . ." Jasmine sighed. "Can you go now please?"

"Jasmine," Chloe beseeched. "I know I hurt him and I'm sorry. You don't know how sorry I am and I can keep telling you that but I would really rather say it to the person I hurt."

"The best thing you can do for him now is to leave him alone."

"I just want to know where he is. Is he coming back?"

"You should have asked those questions before," Jasmine pointed out.

"I've tried," she said. "But he's been so angry and he has a real knack for being elusive when he wants to be. I was hoping that with some time and once cooler heads prevailed, he and I could really talk but now he's gone and. . ." Chloe felt that know forming in her stomach again as she considered the possibility of never seeing Alek again. "Jasmine, where is he?"

Jasmine's expression was conflicted before she sighed and answered,

"Los Angeles."

#

Nearly two weeks passed before Chloe made a decision. Or rather, she was pushed into that decision by how much she missed Alek. She hated to admit it but she had always taken his presence in her life for granted. She knew he was always watching her in some way, and when he wasn't on guard duty, he was there to talk to her or banter with her or annoy her or make her laugh.

That old saying was so very true – you never know what you had until it's gone.

A dull ache had settled deep inside of her and with each passing day, it had grown. Each day that she had passed Alek's locker, never to see him, she felt it throbbing. Each day that she had dutifully gone over to Valentina's for training and instead of Alek's smirk, she was greeted with the business-like demeanor of one of the Mai guards or on occasion, Jasmine's icy cool expression which had started to thaw in the last week, no doubt because she could see how utterly miserable Chloe was. Chloe felt the ache grow and grow. Each day that she caught sight of not Alek but some nameless Mai guard watching her from a rooftop, the ache reminded her of their chats on her rooftop, sadistically taunted her about her blindness to her true feelings.

After a while, the ache became too much to bear. Amy and Paul had tried to cheer her up, provided distractions but the melancholy always returned, along with the ache. Even her mom noticed it but Chloe couldn't explain things, not really, not without having to go into the whole Mai thing so she had simply told her mom that she and Alek had broken up. Her mom had been confused, rightly so, since the last time they had really talked about her love life, she was talking about her supposed love for Brian. She hadn't wanted to recount the whole sordid affair so she had told her Mom she didn't want to talk about it. Her Mom had been her usual understanding self, but that hadn't really helped Chloe deal with the ever-persistent ache inside of her.

Jasmine had caved one day and had given her Alek's e-mail address and after numerous drafts and countless hours of agonizing, she had sent him an e-mail explaining things but hadn't heard back. If she was lucky, it had ended up in his spam folder. If she wasn't, he had read it and no longer cared.

After two weeks, she knew that she had to at least go see him. That whatever happened, she had to at least do that or she would spend the rest of her life wondering and since she still had eight lives, that was a hell of a long time.

Getting the location hadn't been all that hard. Turns out, Alek had gone to a training school in the Los Angeles area which was super secret but used by the Mai in the United States to train new members. Valentina made frequent trips there to apprise the head of the situation with Chloe and the Order and Chloe had overheard one of her guards talking about how the training program had been intensified for what the Mai leadership deemed as "the coming war."

The real problem was figuring out how to get her Mom to let her go to Los Angeles. Alone. She couldn't exactly take her Mom with her to the super secret training center for the Mai, now could she? After days of trying to figure out the problem with Amy and Paul, a solution manifested itself in the form of summer program at her school. Learning that she could earn credit for working at an approved community service organization for a month during her summer vacation, Chloe had used her "I'm the Uniter" card with Valentina and had asked her to help Chloe get into that program as a front for allowing Chloe to go to the Los Angeles training center. She had told Valentina that if a war was going to be started over her, she should at least be in the same training program as all the other Mai about to risk their lives for her.

It was a compelling argument and Valentina had no counterargument. Besides, there was no safer place for the Uniter to be than in a Mai compound, surrounded by well-trained Mai, and full of weapons that they were well-trained with at their disposal. Talk about home field advantage. So after Valentina had worked her magic, Chloe had worked hers on her Mom who was more than a little reluctant to let "her little girl" go away to a big city all alone for a month.

In the end, after a lot of tears and promise to call and Skype every day, Chloe was on an airplane for the short ride to Los Angeles. Once at LAX, she had been greeted with two burly men, dressed in black from head to combat-boot encased toes, who had referred to her as "Miss." They had ushered her into a town car with dark tinted windows and had driven her out into the desert surrounding Los Angeles.

There, a sprawling stone and concrete compound, surrounded by an electrified fence topped with vicious looking barbed wire, greeted her. After getting through the guard post, which Chloe noted was manned by two heavily armed men dressed very similar to the men who had picked her up at the airport.

The compound itself was like a labyrinth. If she hadn't been accompanied by the two men, she would have been lost in about 30 seconds admist all the hallways and rooms that seemed to all look the same. It was like a huge dorm, with a lot of gyms and open spaces in between from what she had been able to see.

What have I gotten myself into, she thought? She didn't mind the training so much anymore, not like she had at first but this place was hardcore. And she wasn't sure she was really a hardcore training kind of girl.

After a lof of turns and passing lots of doors that all looked the same, the men ushered her into a room with a bed, desk, dresser, chair and closet. A small window overlooked what looked like an Olympic track field was on the wall opposite the door. A small bathroom was just off the left of the door of the room.

"This will be your room, Miss," one of the guards said. "Angelo will be by to greet you shortly." The two men gave her brief smiles before they exited.

Chloe was just starting to unpack when her super hearing picked up a voice with a very distinct British accent. A voice she had missed more than anything these past weeks. She concentrated, just as Alek had taught her until she managed to isolate his voice amid the other noises in the compound. Then as she focused on his voice, she pinpointed where he was. Before thinking about what she would say, she took off down one of the hallways, keeping her ears tuned into his voice as her guide.

He was in what looked like a common room, which had large windows around it, like many of the rooms in the compound. Many of the larger rooms and gyms, Chloe had noted, were glass-walled. There were several round tables, surrounded by chairs, scattered about as well as a sofa along the far wall. A large, flat screen television set was mounted to the wall adjacent to the sofa and was playing some kind of sports game. Alek lounged on the sofa, watching the game and talking to a boy who seemed about their age. The boy had pulled one of the chairs away from the table and was sitting near Alek's head, his attention also on the game.

Chloe froze in her steps, drinking in the sight of Alek. He was in what seemed to the standard issue uniform here, black pants and black T-shirt. Alek had always been in good shape but the weeks in the training center had made a noticeable change in his physique. His muscles were bigger, more defined. His body super toned, sporting more muscle mass. He looked primed and ready for whatever battle awaited. His hair was still adorably tousled as ever, so at least one thing was still the same.

She forced herself to keep moving forward, to walk into the room, despite the fact that her heart was now beating about a hundred miles an hour. She could feel it hammering in her ears and her palms had grown sweaty. Her mind was a complete blank all of a sudden, not knowing what to say to him at all, even though she had come up with hundreds of scenarios for their reunion in the weeks she had yearned for him.

Just as she reached the door, a pretty girl, dressed in the standard black, came up and smiled at her briefly before she walked into the room. The girl had beautiful, curly black hair that she had tied back into a ponytail and probably as an attempt to make the black, military-esque uniform a little more feminine, had tied a red ribbon around her ponytail.

Chloe watched as Alek gave the girl a broad, flirty smile, the kind he had directed Chloe's way so often, before he got up and kissed the girl on the lips briefly before wrapping her up in his arms.

Chloe gasped, as an intense wave of pain overtook her. She quickly sucked in some air, feeling like she had just been punched, and hard, right in her solar plexus. She wanted to look away but felt her eyes riveted to the horrific scene playing out in front of her. As if her senses wanted to torture her, her ears zoomed in on Alek's voice.

"Hey, I've been waiting for you. How was weapons training?"

"Hard," the girl said, pulling back from his embrace slightly. "Also a little painful." She lifted her arm and Chloe saw the purple-ish bruise on it.

"Ouch," Alex said with a smile, placing a kiss on the bruise. "I'll see if I can make that all better tonight. But for now, I'm starved, let's-"

"Alek?"

Too late Chloe realized that Alek had caught sight of her. She shouldn't have been too surprised. Even without his Mai super senses, she was a little hard to miss. She had, after all, been standing outside in the hallway, staring into the room that had glass walls.

In a heartbeat, Alek was in front of her, standing too close as he usually did when talking to her, and hissed,

"What the hell are you doing here?"


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks so much everyone for the response to this story. I'm so surprised by all the alerts/favorites/reviews/etc. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Here's the next installment. . .

REDEMPTION - Ch. 2

Chloe calculated the options in her head. She could run, but she didn't know this place and the odds that Alek would catch her were high. He had always been much faster than her. Assuming he would give chase and given the mutinous expression on his face, that seemed unlikely and she'd look even more ridiculous. She could play this off as coincidence but Alek wasn't an idiot. So that left her with her final option, the truth which was ever-so-painful in that moment.

"I, uh. . ." the words got stuck in her throat and felt like they were strangling her.

"Does Valentina know that you're here?" Alek's voice was no less harsh, and his expression was the one he usually reserved for people he wanted to rip to shreds. She had never thought she would be one of those people, although she couldn't exactly say she hadn't earned it.

She managed to nod. Just as she was reconsidering the run like hell option, she was saved from that embarrassment by a mellifluous voice, thick with a Spanish accent, behind her.

"Ahh, _senorita _King."

Chloe turned to find a tall, broad shouldered man with shoulder length gray hair and the palest blue eyes she had ever seen. Staring into his eyes, she could truly believe that the Mai were descendants of a God with cat DNA.

"I am Angelo," the man smiled warmly at her and then bowed slightly. "_Bienvenida."_

"H-Hi," Chloe managed to squeak out, still feeling Alek's eyes boring into her from behind.

"It is an honor to be able to train the Uniter." The man gave her a teasing smile. "Please do not think we will go easy on you, however." Angelo looked over her head. "Ahhh, I see you have reunited with your protector."

Chloe cringed. She resolutely stayed focused on Angelo, not wanting to turn around to see how Alek was reacting to Angelo's statement.

"What is she doing here?" Alek asked, his voice still containing an edge, but the tone respectful.

"Valentina said that _Senorita_ King wished to undergo training here."

"You asked to come here?" Alek directed at her.

Chloe closed her eyes, wishing desperately that one of her powers was the power to disappear. Or teleport. Fly. Something that would allow her to make a quick getaway from here. She'd even settle for invisibility. If she could have imagined the worst way to see Alek again, she still couldn't have come up with everything that had happened so far. If life had a fast-forward button, she would have her finger firmly pressed on it about five minutes ago.

"I, uh. . ."

"I trust you had a pleasant journey?" Angelo once again saved her from having to try and choke out a response to Alek. She had wanted so desperately in the last month to talk to him and now that she finally had her chance, she literally couldn't speak.

"It was fine," Chloe managed.

"You must be tired." Angelo looked over to Alek. "Alek, you wouldn't mind showing _Senorita_ King around would you?"

"He doesn't. . ." Chloe protested.

"It's not a problem," Alek said, his voice sounding strained.

Angelo nodded then laid his hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I am truly honored by your presence, _Senorita_ King." He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Please get some rest. Training begins early tomorrow."

Angelo said something in Spanish and a large man appeared by his side. The two began conversing in Spanish as they disappeared down the hall, leaving Chloe alone with Alek, something that would have thrilled her just an hour ago but now filled her with a sense of dread.

Knowing that she had little choice, she inhaled deeply and turned to face him again. His expression was less murderous, more distant now. The two of them stared at each other wordlessly for long moments before Alek finally cleared his throat.

"Guess I'm back on Uniter duty."

"You don't have to. . ."

She seemed to be getting interrupted a lot lately because the pretty girl who Alek had kissed came out into the hall. Upon closer inspection, Chloe could see that she was older, about college age, and very, very pretty. Her eyes were hazel and indeed looked like cat eyes, as they were oblong shaped and stunning.

The girl offered the same friendly smile to Chloe before she turned to Alek. "Did I just see Angelo?"

Alek smiled, but it wasn't the same easy, flirtatious smile he shared with her earlier. "Yeah and there's a slight change of plans. Why don't you go ahead and grab some dinner and I'll catch up? Angelo wanted me to do something." The girl looked questioningly at him before her eyes shifted over to Chloe. A pregnant pause ensued before Alek sighed. "This is Chloe. . .the Uniter. She just arrived and Angelo wanted me to show her around."

The girl's eyes lit up before she grabbed Chloe's hands. "You're the Uniter? Oh my God, I've heard so much about you."

The girl had the slightest twang to her voice, which Chloe guessed meant she lived somewhere in the southern U.S. "Hi," Chloe offered with a smile. The girl was so effervescent, so friendly that it was hard not to respond in kind.

"I'm Lana, from the Texas pride."

So that would explain the soft twang. Chloe smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you."

Lana beamed at her before she glanced at Alek. "Obviously you know Alek." Chloe shifted uncomfortably, wondering if she really couldn't just take off running.

"Angelo asked me to give her a tour of the place," said Alek. "It won't take long. I'll meet you in the dining hall."

Lana nodded. "Take your time." She turned to Chloe. "Come join us for dinner after Alek gives you the tour."

"I, um. . ." Chloe began but Lana had already dropped a kiss on Alek's cheek and was halfway down the hall. Damn those Mai and their super speed.

"Let's go," Alek said and not giving her any time to respond, he turned and walked down the opposite end of the hall. The next fifteen minutes were excruciating, as Alek led her through the maze-like compound, pointing things out in a monotonous, disaffected voice. His expression stayed exactly the same throughout the whole thing. . .one that a statute or robot might sport. On second thought, a statute or robot might actually be able to look friendly or welcoming. Alek looked like neither of those things. He looked like he enjoyed giving her a tour as much as she enjoyed going on it.

At least we have misery in common, Chloe thought as Alex led her up to a large stone, counter. Behind it sat a bank of monitors mounted to the wall, displaying various shots of security cameras, both inside and outside. A quick scan told her that the cameras were only present in the common areas as she didn't see any dorm rooms in any of the views. Two men, in that same black ensemble everyone was wearing except her and Angelo, who had been in khakis and a loose, white button down shirt, sat behind the large counter, working on computers.

"This is the main communications center. Everything within the center is monitored here."

"Everything?" she asked, again wondering if the dorm rooms were being monitored.

"Everything except the dorm and bathrooms," said Alek. "The dorms are also soundproofed." He indicated his ear. "All that super hearing makes things a little awkward otherwise."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to know."

"Anyway, that's it." Alek looked around. "I'll walk you back to your dorm room before I head to dinner." If she had any doubts that he didn't want her to join him and Lana, that had just effectively killed any lingering doubts. "What number are you?"

She stared at him blankly. God she hated how she had looked like nothing but a tongue-tied idiot since he had seen her here. "I. . .uh. . .I don't know."

Alek sighed before he walked up to the counter and talked to one of the men. A few minutes later, he rejoined her. "You're in W32. That means you're in the west wing. The dorms are either on the west or east wings of the compound. The common rooms and training areas are in the middle and everything overlooks the grounds out back."

"What room are you in?"

Alek ignored her, starting down a hall and giving her no choice but to follow. Somehow, because there was no way she had been able to figure the layout of this place in those fifteen minutes that Alek had basically walked them past everything as quickly as possible, they found themselves back in front of the room she had been in less than half an hour ago, but in the wake of everything, had felt like a lifetime ago.

She noted that the rest of her luggage had been brought in and was standing by her door. She turned to Alek who was looking at her with an unreadable expression, his eyes narrowed. "Thanks," she said softly. There was so much she wanted to say to him that it all flooded her mind at once, making everything hopelessly jumbled. "Alek, I. . ."

"I'll see you." Not waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.

Chloe stared at his retreating form until he was well out of sight. ". . .missed you," she whispered to the air.

"Oh my God, I don't know why I did this. He hates me."

"He does not hate you."

Chloe blinked through her tears, making the somewhat grainy image of her best friend, Amy blur momentarily. She wiped at the tears with the back of her hand.

"You did not see him." She sniffled, feeling a new wave of tears behind her eyes. "He hates me."

"He's just. . .he's angry and you did really, really surprise him." Amy smiled. "It's like you jumped on top of his car. Just give him time."

"For what?" She grabbed a T-shirt from the pile that she had been in the process of putting away until Amy had popped up on Skype and dabbed at her face with it. "It doesn't matter anyway. He already has a girlfriend. A really pretty, incredibly nice girlfriend."

Amy made a face. "Oh, yeah, her." Her friend looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

She nodded, as new tears rolled down her cheeks. "Yeah. What'd I expect anyway? It's Alek. Girls have always flocked to him. He never did anything because they were human but here. . ." She drew in a shuddering breath. "I shouldn't be so surprised."

"But you are," Amy offered gently.

That was why they were best friends. Amy knew things that she didn't even have to articulate. "I. . ." She shook her head. "I know it's stupid and unfair but I. . ."

"You wanted him to miss you as much as you had missed him."

"It's stupid right?"

"Not so much," Amy said softly.

She managed a smile through her tears. "I miss you guys already."

"I miss you too," said Amy. They lapsed into silence before Amy asked gently, "What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "There's not much I can do. I'm here for a month." She chuckled but there was no humor in it. "I guess this is karma huh? Alek spent all those months watching me with Brian so now I get to watch him with Lana."

"Why don't you just come home?"

She had considered this. Within five seconds after Alek had left her to head to dinner. But she had abandoned the idea just as quickly. The development with Brian she knew had caused some doubts to circulate within the Mai community. There were whispers that she was a traitor, and not really the Uniter. After all, would the Uniter fall for the son of the man who was head of the West Coast branch of the murderous Order? She had given new meaning to the phrase "cavorting with the enemy."

Although technically, Brian wasn't the enemy. He had seemed just as surprised to learn about his father as Chloe had been. And technically, Chloe hadn't really cavorted with him, and upon learning the truth, had ended things. But that was a lot of "technically" especially for a new girl who hadn't quite proven herself yet. If Jasmine, Valentina and Alek had doubts about her, she didn't want to know what the rest of the Mai were thinking.

Valentina hadn't said anything to her but Mai super-hearing had allowed her to pick up the idle gossiping of the guards. She knew that Valentina was already in a precarious position, already physically weak so it was a huge risk for her to continue to stand by Chloe. So Chloe couldn't just quit. She had to see this training through, to show that her loyalties were with the Mai and that she was serious about her role as the Uniter.

"I can't, Amy," she said softly. She tried to smile and knew she failed. "It'll be fine. A month's not that long. I'll finish my training here and then head back to San Francisco."

"What about Alek?"

She shook her head slightly, feeling her eyes welling up again. "I don't know."

Chloe had tossed and turned for hours and had finally dozed off when a loud, siren-like noise made her bolt up in bed. She looked outside the window and noted that the sun had not risen yet. She grabbed her watch and noted that it was barely six in the morning.

"What the hell?"

She grabbed a sweater, throwing it on before she opened her door. Outside, the hall was alive with activities as half a dozen Mai, all about her age and slightly older, were dressed in workout clothes and talking as they headed down the hall.

"Hey," Chloe called after a girl passing her. The girl turned and looked at her expectantly. "What's going on?"

"Morning exercise," the girl answered. She looked at Chloe's PJ bottom and tank. "You better hurry and get dressed. You need to be out on the field in 10 minutes."

"This is insane," Chloe muttered as she hurriedly threw on a pair of sweatpants and sports bra. She grabbed a hoodie and dashed out the door. It wasn't until she was out in the hallway that she realized that she had no clue on how to get outside to the field. "They need to give people a map to this place!"

Just as she was about to start running aimlessly down a hall, she caught sight of another small group of Mai and quickly caught up to them. She stayed a little behind the group, close enough to follow them but not so close as to intrude. Making an effort to actually memorize the route this time, she soon found herself out on the track field, along with about two dozen other young Mai like herself.

One of the burly guards that had been in the guard post yesterday was dressed in a dark blue warm up suit and standing near the inner oval of the track. She quickly joined the others and formed a line in front of the man. Chloe scanned the group and saw that Alek wasn't among them. She wondered if she was in the wrong group or place, as no one had bothered to give her a schedule or anything since she had arrived.

"Miss King, welcome," said the burly guard. "I'm Kellis. It's good to have you with us." He turned to address the rest of the group. "Everyone, this is Chloe King. She's going to be with us for the next few weeks. I trust we'll make her feel welcome."

There was a buzz of voices offering their greetings to her and a few people turned to look at her briefly. No doubt that every Mai was by now well aware of who she was and that she was going to stand out a bit because of that. But had she known how things would go today, she would have been grateful to have just stood out for that reason alone. As it turns out, she managed to distinguish herself in a much more embarrassing way.

When she had guessed that the training here was hardcore, she hadn't been wrong. In fact, if there was some word to describe the most hardcore part of a hardcore program, that was what the training here was like. The morning routine consisted of stretches, a ten mile "jog," weight training and then a run through an obstacle course that had to have been designed by a sadistic freak.

She had barely made it through the run, coming in dead last, so dead last that everyone was already well into their weight routine by the time she had stumbled across the line. Her body was on fire. Everything burned. . .legs, lungs, feet, eyes. She had used all her Mai abilities and still she was lagging behind. She was acutely aware of the eyes on her as she had limped to the weights and had struggled, mightily, through the exercises.

The obstacle course kicked her ass. Literally. She couldn't finish it. After one high wall too many, she had simply been unable to propel herself over it. She had tried climbing it, but since she only had cat-like abilities, walking on walls was not in her repertoire. She had to quit halfway through, because she managed to bang up her knee when she had tried a running leap and instead, in her exhaustion, had ended up taking a running leap. . .right into the wall.

"Go to medical and they'll fix that right up." Kellis had told her as they had watched her knee swell up like it was a balloon.

Defeated and more than a little embarrassed, she had limped inside and wanted to scream when she realized again she had no idea where "medical" was. So she had stood in the hall, like a doofus, trying to remember where that communications center was that Alek had shown her. Unable to recall, she had limped back to her room where she had soaked her knee in some cold water before taking a long, hot shower.

That seemed to have helped since her knee looked vastly improved by the time she had gotten dressed. There was a lot to be said for quick healing abilities. Now starved and fearing she had missed breakfast, she took off trying to find the dining hall. Out of sheer luck, she managed to find it and saw that it was still partly full of people eating.

She got a tray and then loaded it up with some food. Surveying the room, she felt like she was back in middle school, when she had been assigned to a different lunch hour than Paul and Amy and had to spend a semester figuring out where to sit. Spying an empty table, she quickly made her way over and then focused on eating. She tuned out all the chatter and noise in the room, turning down her hearing like she had been taught.

"Can I join you?"

Chloe looked up to find Lana smiling at her. "Um. . .sure."

Lana's smile widened as she placed her tray on the table and then slide onto the bench next to Chloe. "How's it going?"

"Uh. . .it's. . .fine."

"I hate morning exercise." Lana made a face. "It's bad enough that they want us to wake up before the crack of dawn, but then they actually want us to break a sweat?" Lana leaned toward Chloe. "I am so not a morning person. My idea of a busy morning is getting up early on Sunday to make toast. And by early I mean after eight."

Chloe couldn't help smiling. Lana just had this way about her that drew people in. She could certainly understand her appeal to Alex besides the obvious physical ones. "I didn't see you this morning."

Lana had just placed a big spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth so it took her a few seconds to respond. "I'm in the east wing. The two wings tend to be on different exercise schedules." She inclined her head. "Don't worry, they match us up every week for hand-to-hand exercises and survival "games"" Lana did an air quote around the last word. "And we have the same meal times and free periods."

Chloe nodded, feeling a little worse. Alex must be in the east wing since she hadn't seen him with her group that morning. On the plus side, she didn't have to spend every day watching him and Lana together. On the minus side, she apparently wasn't going to see much of him at all so her plan. . .when she came up with one. . .was going to have to figure in this new fact.

A part of her didn't want to engage Lana, thinking this was more than a little weird since Lana apparently had no idea about her history with Alek beyond the fact that he had been in the same pride as the Uniter. But another part of her, the larger, more dominant part, was desperate and since she hadn't exactly been swarmed with people wanting to be her friend, Lana was her best and only option.

"Um. . .can I ask you something that might sound a little. . .dumb?"

Lana gave her a bemused look. "Shoot."

"How do you know where to go?" Chloe looked around the dining hall. "I mean everyone seems to know exactly where to go and when and I. . .don't."

Lana's expression was curious as she stared at Chloe for a beat before she said, "It's in your room."

"What's in my room?"

"Your daily schedule."

Chloe racked her brain to see if she had overlooked a piece of paper, a Post-it, anything and she was pretty sure that she hadn't. Except for fresh linen and her suitcases, nothing else had been left in her room last night.

"Every morning, you get a schedule telling you where they want you to go." Chloe shook her head. She was pretty sure no one had been in her room that morning before she had been awoken by that siren. "On the screen?"

"I don't have a T.V. in my room."

Lana smiled. "No, not a TV. There's a little screen mounted to the wall, usually over your desk. Just tap it and it'll contain mostly everything you need to know." Lana angled her head. "Didn't Alek tell you all of this last night when he gave you the tour?"

Chloe looked away, feeling that familiar knot in her stomach whenever she thought of Alek. "He sort of skipped over that part."

Chloe felt like an idiot but a very relieved idiot knowing that she wasn't going to have to spend the rest of the day wandering around trying to figure out where to go. Following groups of Mai trainees only went so far and now that she knew there were two separate groups with different schedules, the odds that she would have followed the wrong group and embarrassed herself even more than she already had this morning were very high.

She did recall seeing a little console by her desk but figured that was an alarm or security device of some sort and afraid that she might set off something, she had steered clear of it. Now she couldn't wait to get back to her room to see what it held for her.

She and Lana sat together until Lana finished her breakfast. Chloe's initial assessment of Lana had been right. The girl really was so genuinely sweet and friendly that it was hard not to be charmed by her. Still, she maintained a distance between them, knowing that befriending Alek's current girlfriend was asking for trouble and that was the last thing she needed. So Chloe was polite and friendly but not overly so and when she could leave without seeming rude, she had made her excuses.

Once back in her room, she made a beeline for the small monitor. Tapping the screen, she was amazed to see it buzz to life before a computerized voice said,

"Greetings, Chloe King."

A few seconds later, several icons popped up on the screen. She scanned them quickly and then pressed the one that looked like a datebook with the word "Schedule" under it. A form materialized, listing her schedule for the day, just as Lana had told her.

She scanned it and was surprised by how much physical training existed. In about half an hour, she was headed to weapons training, and her mind flashed to that awful vision of Alek with Lana and Lana's bruised arm. If her performance this morning on the obstacle course was any indication, she was going to come away with a lot more than a bruised arm.

And no one to kiss it better, her mind taunted her.

"Shut up," Chloe muttered before she sighed. "Great. Now I'm talking to myself."

She focused her attention back to the screen, looking over the other options and she was delighted to find a map of the compound on it. She looked around, wondering if there was a way to print up the map but she didn't see a printer anywhere, so Chloe took about fifteen minutes, going back and forth between her schedule and the map until she had a good idea of where she needed to go and how to get there for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day wasn't as bad as the morning exercise. Weapons training had turned out to be with wooden staffs, which she was familiar with, having trained with them with Alek. The other Mai weren't significantly better than her and since stamina wasn't necessarily the most critical skill, she didn't embarrass herself too badly.

After weapons training, she had about an hour of free time so she went back to her room to see if she could reach Paul or Amy on Skype. Neither were available so she sent them both e-mails and then sent one to her mother as well. She considered contacting her father, but nixed the idea, under her newly formulated plan to not get into trouble or cause trouble or be anywhere near trouble for the next four weeks.

There was a martial arts training session after her free period. She loved the Aikido master, known simply as "Sensei," who taught the class. He was a lean, tall, man of Japanese descent and also a Mai. He spoke in an even tone that was just barely above a whisper and had the most calming presence Chloe had ever encountered. But once he started to demonstrate the moves, he had turned quick and deadly, his movement fast, accurate and powerful. Chloe had been impressed and hoped that she would have many more classes with him.

After martial arts, there was Cardio on the track field which was ninety minutes of pure torture. Another ten mile run followed by calisthenics that left her gasping for air. She was at least heartened to see that she hadn't come in dead last on the run this time. She managed to beat another girl but it looked like the girl had rolled her ankle in the last lap and had limped the rest of the way but Chloe's ego needed the victory so she was going to take it.

After Cardio, there was a brief free period before dinner. Chloe had hoped she would see Alek at dinner but he was nowhere to be found. Lana wasn't there either so Chloe had spent her dinner sitting at a table alone, trying to eat as fast as possible so she could retreat to her room.

There was a final training session after dinner. . .one of the hand-to-hand combat match-ups between the two wings that Lana had told her about. It was at this session that Chloe finally saw Alek for the first time that day. He looked incredible, leaning against the wall and talking to a small group of boys when she walked in.

Their eyes made brief contact as she made her way over to a free spot on the mat to warm up. His eyes raked over her quickly and then he went back to his friends, as if the moment hadn't happened at all. She drew in a deep breath, telling herself to concentrate, because if she lost focus, she was gonna get hurt.

In a few minutes, a woman with short blonde hair walked into the room. She was of average height, but there was no denying how fit and strong she was underneath her uniform. Calling the group to order, the woman introduced herself as Athena and then scanned the group until her eyes stopped on Chloe.

"Chloe King?" she queried. Chloe groaned inwardly before she nodded. This whole Uniter thing was really a pain in the ass sometimes. "Welcome." The woman smiled. "I'm excited to see how the Uniter fares in these match-ups."

Oh, crap, thought Chloe. Her eyes instinctively went to Alek and she felt a flash of anger to see a smirk on his face.

The woman indicated the mat. "What do you say? Up for a challenge?"

Since there was really no way to say "no," Chloe stepped forward. "Chloe and. . ." The woman scanned room before she said, ". . .and let's see. . .Alek? Let's see how San Francisco is handling its training."

Chloe cast her eyes heavenward, wondering if she focused hard enough whether she could actually see the universe mocking her in that moment. She watched as Alek slowly stepped forward. He gave her a look before he resumed a fighting stance. Chloe hesitated, wondering how she should handle this. She had been able to best Alek in a fight before but did she want to now? She didn't need him to be even more pissed at her by showing him up in front of everyone but if she let him win, he might be pissed at her throwing a fight.

So basically her options were to piss Alek off more, or to piss him off more. It's good to have options, she thought as she took up her fighting stance. Athena counted them down from three and then they were at each other.

Alek came at her hard and fast, not holding anything back so Chloe didn't either. She let her instincts take over and for a while, they gave a good show but when Alek flipped over her to suddenly land in front of her, when she whirled to face him, her mind suddenly flashed back to when "Scarface" had surprised her in the tower. When Alek thrust his hand out to land a blow, it looked and felt so much like Scarface pushing her to her death that Chloe involuntarily thrust her hand up into her face and let out a terrified shriek.

Alek's hand made contact with her shoulder, knocking her backwards and she fell on her back with a loud thud. Instantly, her mind flashed to her death and an overwhelming sensation of fear and panic gripped her. She clutched her neck as she began to hyperventilate, fighting with her own body to breathe. Her eyes lost focus and a darkness enveloped her.

"Chloe!"

His voice felt very far away and she forced herself to fight through the terror, to focus on it. In a few minutes, Alek's face came into focus, his expression concerned, an expression that was so familiar to her, one that she missed so dearly that to see it again, it had the effect of abating her fear enough for her to regain some control.

"Are you alright?" Alek reached out, touching her arm gently.

For an instant, it was like all the horrible things that had happened in the last few weeks hadn't, that it was just the two of them again. But as she regained control of her senses, she became acutely aware of where she was, and what had happened.

Bolting upright, she ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I-I'm f-fine."

"Chloe?" Athena came forward, her face mirroring Alek's look of concern. "What happened? Are you okay?"

She looked around the room, at everyone staring at her with expressions of concern and confusion and then her eyes went back to Alek. He still looked worried, but now there was confusion in there too. He looked like everyone else in the room, probably wondering if she had lost her mind.

Unable to take anymore, and still feeling the effects of her panic attack, Chloe turned to Athena, "I'm sorry, could you excuse. . ." Not bothering to finish the sentence, Chloe did what she had wanted to do since she had first seen Alek again.

She ran.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much for the continued support on this story.

I apologize for the long, block like previous chapter. It was supposed to have breaks but somewhere between uploading to and posting, that was lost. I hope it wasn't too confusing.

And obviously, this story does not follow the finale in certain points. If it does, I'll point it out. Otherwise, just think of this as an alternate version.

#

REDEMPTION - Ch. 3

The nightmares had returned.

After the disastrous hand-to-hand session, Chloe had holed herself up in her room for the rest of the night. She had avoided Amy, Paul and her mom on Skype knowing that they would have picked up on the fact that something was wrong. She had spent some time web-surfing, and then had pulled out her e-Reader to catch up on her summer reading list.

She had fallen asleep midway through a reading assignment and the next thing she knew, she had been dreaming about being chased through the streets of San Francisco which had culminated in a masked assassin stabbing her with a sword and throwing her into the Bay. When she had started to feel her lungs burn as the water had filled them up, she had woken up, her body drenched in sweat.

Chloe sat in her bed, trying to catch her breath and to steady herself. She had had this nightmare before. Shortly after her death at the hands of Scarface. She had taken a class in psychology so she knew that it was due to post-traumatic stress. The only problem was that unlike most people with PTSD, she had to confront her stressful situation on a regular basis. After dying from the fall from the tower, Scarface had made repeated attempts on her life, on her friends' lives. He had managed to hog-tie her and then had thrown her into some water to drown, repeatedly. She knew the Order was never going to stop trying to kill her. That there would be other attempts on her life, some may even be successful.

And deep down, that terrified her. She couldn't really talk about this to anyone. She didn't want to worry Paul and Amy, and telling her Mom was absolutely out of the question. She had thought about telling Alek and at one point, she would have but she couldn't now. She might have talked to Valentina or Jasmine but those relationships were also strained, and besides, they were in San Francisco, and she was here. And there was no one here for her to talk to about any of this.

It was no wonder her nightmares had returned.

She grabbed her watch and saw that it was a little past two-thirty in the morning. Switching on the light, she went over to the console and pulled up her new schedule. Morning training started at five-thirty which meant she had about 3 more hours, but Chloe knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep. The very thought of sleep scared her then, not wanting to have the nightmare again and knowing she had no control over it.

So she put on her workout clothes and decided to familiarize herself with the compound's grounds. Unsure if she was breaking some kind of curfew, she gingerly opened her door and walked out. The halls were dimly lit and abandoned. She drew up a mental picture of the map of the compound and headed for the communications center that Alek had showed her on the tour.

As she wandered the hallways, fully aware that cameras were tracking her movements and yet no one had shown up to usher her back to bed, Chloe came to the conclusion that no curfew existed. They probably didn't need one, she thought. The training was so strenuous that by evening, everyone would be dead tired and sound asleep at this hour.

Everyone but me. Chloe wandered around aimlessly for a while until she found herself in front of the communications center. The two men, the same ones who had been there when Alek had shown her this area, looked up and offered her a polite smile in greeting.

"Uh, hi," said Chloe.

"Miss King, you're up early."

"I couldn't sleep." She smiled. "I get insomnia sometimes."

"Can we help you with something?"

"I was just wondering if it's okay for me to go outside? I won't set any alarms off or anything?"

"Outside?"

"I just want to walk around the track a little." She chuckled nervously. "You know maybe it'll help me sleep."

The man nodded. "That's fine. Just don't go near the fences. They're electrified."

"That's good to know," she said, turning. "Thanks."

Chloe wandered in the direction of doors that led out to the track field but as she neared it, she turned, deciding on a whim to explore the east wing of the compound, an area that Alek had quickly gone over during their tour.

She walked up and down the hallways outside the dorms, all the doors shut, its occupants sleeping peacefully. The east wing had the exact same layout as the west wing. As she walked by the numbered doors, she wondered which one Alek was sleeping behind, wondered what he was like in his sleep. Did his features softened? Did he snore? Does he sleep on his stomach or back or on his side?

"What are you doing?"

Chloe screamed and whirled around to find Alek disconcertingly close to her. If she hadn't been so caught up in thoughts of what he was like asleep, she would have heard him, even in all of his stealthy cat-like ways, because the halls were eerily quiet at that hour. Well they were until she had screamed.

Alek quirked an eyebrow. "You're lucky the rooms are soundproofed or you'd have woken up some very pissed off Mai."

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I could ask you the same thing," he threw back at her. He was in pale blue PJ bottoms, shirtless and barefooted. She looked down the hall for an open door, hoping to determine which room was his but she couldn't see. Besides, her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and kept going to his toned, sculpted abs and work their way up to his muscled, bare chest.

"I, uh. . ." She cleared her throat. "I'm lost."

"That's fairly obvious." He angled his head. "The question is, why aren't you asleep and getting yourself lost at this hour?"

Fragments of the nightmare jabbed at her and she quickly pushed them back. "I couldn't sleep."

"Why?"

"Just couldn't," she said. "Sorry I woke you."

Alek stared at her for a long moment and then he shrugged. "You didn't." He doffed his head down the hall. "Come on, I'll walk you back."

She shook her head. "It's okay. I'll find my way back. I should figure out this place anyway. Can't keep getting lost can I?"

"Are you okay?" Alek asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. Just can't sleep."

"I mean today, in hand-to-hand," He indicated the shoulder he had hit. "I thought you'd block me. I know you saw it coming."

"I. . .lost focus." She smiled, but it felt strained. "Stupid mistake."

"What happened when you went down?" Again, the vision of Scarface shoving her off the tower flashed through her mind and she involuntarily shuddered. "Chloe?"

"I-I'm fine. Really." She shrugged. "Sorry I woke you. Good night."

Before he could say anything else, she strode quickly down the hall, feeling his eyes on her the entire time.

#

The next few days were hard, but Chloe was quickly getting the hang of life at the training center. She was starting to build up her strength and endurance and pushing herself so hard actually allowed her to tap into her Mai strengths more easily. Although not easily enough that she could scale that high wall on the obstacle course. That was the one thing she still couldn't do.

That and sleep peacefully. There were nights when she managed to wear herself out so much that she would fall into an exhausted, dreamless sleep. She loved those nights. On other nights, she would sleep and then she would dream and inevitably, she would wake up screaming in terror.

So she pushed herself, harder and harder.

Her relentless pursuit of physical excellence did have the effect of improving her reputation within the compound, and slowly, a few of her fellow trainees had started to approach her. It wasn't like she had made an instant, life-long friends, but she wasn't exactly the loser sitting off to the side by herself either.

Lana was still as friendly as ever, and Chloe, try as she might, just couldn't do anything but respond to that kind of warmth. She wouldn't exactly call them friends, but if she happened to cross paths with Lana, they always took some time to catch up, to talk a little.

Unless Lana was with Alek, which was when Chloe always managed to find a reason to go do something else. She was already being plagued by nightmares, she didn't need to torment herself further by being the third wheel to Alek's love affair with Lana. Alek seemed less angry with her but kept his distance. When they interacted, he was civil and polite and always seemed to be studying her in some way, as if he was trying to gauge something.

There were times that it killed her because she wanted to talk to him so badly. They were friends first before any of the romantic stuff had happened and he was the only one, still, who could really understand what she was going through. He knew Scarface and how terrifying that chase in the woods was. He knew how her transformation into the Uniter had been so upsetting for her, especially when she had thought that she had killed Xavier. He knew the pressure she was under by lying to her mother repeatedly. He understood what it felt like to be caught between two worlds, because he had been in that position himself, not too long ago.

So he would understand and she desperately wanted to tell him, to talk to him, knowing that at least doing that would help but she couldn't. She had thrown away her ability to do that when she had hurt him, had "chosen" Brian over him in his eyes.

And since the Mai didn't exactly have a therapist on hand, she dealt with things as best as she could. And things went well until Saturday came. Pulling up her schedule, she was surprised to see that except for the morning exercises, the rest of the day was free. It wasn't until she had run into Lana at breakfast that she realized why.

"Hey, Chloe," Lana had beckoned her over to her table. "Do you have plans for today?"

"Plans?"

"Every other Saturday, we get the afternoon off to go into Los Angeles and hang out."

"Oh."

"Listen, if you don't have plans, Alek and I are going to the Santa Monica Pier. Why don't you come?"

The thought of tagging along on Alek's date with Lana was even more terrifying to her than her worst nightmare so she smiled and said,

"Thanks but I think I'll just hang out here. Rest up. It's been a hard week and I'm still a newbie."

Lana offered her a sympathetic smile. "I remember how that was." Lana looked at the door and Chloe followed her gaze to find Alek just walking into the dining hall. He nodded at Lana and let his gaze briefly linger on Chloe before he went to get some food. Chloe still hadn't figured out Alek's schedule quite yet. Some mixed sessions he attended and others he didn't. Sometimes he was at breakfast, and other times he wasn't. She could ask Lana but she didn't want to look like a pathetic stalker.

Not feeling up to dealing with Alek today, she excused herself. Lana told her that if she changed her mind, she and Alek weren't leaving until 11 am. Chloe politely thanked her knowing that she would never, ever take her up on that particular offer. She was reckless but not masochistic.

Back in her room, she managed a chat with Paul, who in his sweet, funny way, managed to cheer her up a little. But as she looked at her watch and did some calculations, she realized that having a whole day to herself would mean that she wouldn't be able to wear herself out like she normally did, which meant that sleep was not in the cards tonight.

The daunting prospect of staying awake for a full day made Chloe change into her warm-ups and head for the gym, where she climbed on the treadmill, and set the program for a fifteen mile run. She plugged her iPod buds into her ear, blasted her music and started running. She was just hitting the ten mile mark when she caught sight of Alek and Lana, his arm around her shoulder, walking past the gym. Sometimes Chloe really hated these glass walls.

Lana caught sight of her and stopped, saying something to Alek before she walked into the room and up to Chloe. Chloe reluctantly pulled out an ear bud to hear her but kept up her fast pace on the treadmill.

"You sure you don't want to join us?"

She glanced at Alek, who was wearing that blank, indifferent expression he tended to sport around her. "Very." She smiled at Lana to take out any sting in her response.

Lana nodded. "Well, enjoy your day. See you at dinner?"

"Yeah," said Chloe as she punched up the speed to the treadmill so that she was at an all-out sprint. The burn she felt in her legs felt good to her because it pulled her mind away from the ache inside of her as she watched Alek and Lana walk off. . .headed to a happy day on the Pier.

After her run on the treadmill, Chloe still felt invigorated so she went out to the track field and did some weight lifting. After lunch in the mostly empty dining hall, Chloe decided that she would spend the rest of the day trying to master the dreaded obstacle course. Today she was going to scale that last wall.

She started out slowly and then gradually increased her pace. She managed to go through most of the obstacles fine until the high wall. Each time, she tried she came up short, crashing into the wall. Over and over she pushed herself, wanting both to conquer this wall as well to exhaust herself enough to sleep tonight. She was tired of roaming the halls or watching stupid infomercials in the common room.

She was so focused on her task that she was barely aware that the sun was setting and pretty soon it had grown dark, dark enough for the outside lights to come on. Chloe continued pushing herself and she could feel herself leaping higher and higher each time. Finally, on the next run, she could feel herself connecting to that well of power inside of her, and as she approached the wall, she could feel herself speeding up and then she launched herself upwards.

She felt like she was flying and she knew this time she could clear the wall. And she did.

The only problem was that she misjudged the wall's thickness and instead of landing on top, she instead went flying over the wall, with one of her foot scrapping the wall's edge as she went down. The result was a less than graceful landing. In fact, it was a flat-out ugly. . .and painful landing with Chloe coming down hard, on her arm. She felt something pop and then in the next instant, an intense, shooting pain spread across her shoulder.

She gasped, gripping her left shoulder, trying to control the pain but it was no use. And the pain seemed to unlock all of the emotions she had kept suppressed in the past week. She left out a vicious cry before she fell back on the ground, kicking at the wall and uttering a string of curses that if her mother had ever heard it, would have been shocked by the vulgarity and that Chloe actually knew those words. Her anger burned hot and fast and when it died out, all she was left with was a throbbing shoulder and emotions that she didn't know how to deal with – sadness, regret, fear, anxiety, loneliness.

So she did the only thing she could. She cried.

She pulled herself into a sitting position and leaned against the wall and had what her mother would call, "a good old fashioned cry-it-all-out." And she had a lot to cry out.

"Chloe?" Chloe gasped and instinctively turned away from the sound of his voice. She tried to wipe away the tears but knew it was futile. There was no way with his super Mai senses that Alek hadn't been able to tell that she had just been sitting here crying like a baby. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh. . ." She bit her lip, forcing back the wave of fresh tears. "I. . .hurt my shoulder." For some reason, when she said that, instead of holding back the tears, it unlocked the floodgates and to her horror, she began sobbing anew. She tried to fight it but couldn't so she helplessly gave in and sat there on the ground, dirtied, banged up and cried her heart out right in front of Alek.

She wouldn't have blamed him if he retreated in disgust so to her extreme surprise, she felt him sit down besides her and then, to her utter shock, his arm came around her, being careful of her injured shoulder, to pull her up against him. Completely spent, she allowed herself to lean into him, tucking her head under his chin, her cheek on chest.

Alek's arm rubbed her back in a soothing up and down motion while he murmured words of comfort. Soon, her tears were all expended but she stayed still, not wanting to leave the warmth of Alek's embrace. She didn't know how long they sat like that and a part of her didn't care. But Alek shifted and she was forced to move, lifting her head off his chest, which brought her face within millimeters of his.

Their eyes locked and time seemed to freeze as they stared at each other. Chloe wanted to desperately to kiss him, imagined what it would be like. She could do it, it would be easy, afterall, what was a millimeter or two?

In their case, it was an insurmountable distance with too much history and too much unsaid. Alek finally cleared his throat before he stood up. She remained sitting on the ground, staring off into the distance, not feeling better exactly after her cry, just exhausted to her very core. The pain in her shoulder was still there, but the intense sharpness of it had subsided. She knew she should head to medical to have it looked at but she was just so tired right then.

"Come on," Alek said, his voice still gentle. She turned to find his hand extended toward her. "I'll help you to medical."


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you all so much for the continued support of this story. I appreciate all the reviews and messages. I would respond to each of them but that would take time away from writing this story and I figured you would rather I write. :)

I forgot to mention it in the previous chapters but I obviously do not own anything. No infringement is intended.

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REDEMPTION - Chapter 4

As she had suspected, she had separated her shoulder, and the treatment turned out to be about as agonizingly painful as the injury. But after the doctor popped her shoulder back in, the pain had started to subside almost immediately. Score one for super healing powers, thought Chloe. Or would that be two? She had been rather injury-prone since showing up at the training center.

After listening to the doctor's instructions for dealing with the injury and for when she could remove the sling from her arm, Chloe made her way out to the hallway, but not before she caught sight of her frightful reflection in one of the mirrors.

She was mud-splattered. Her hair was a frizzy, tangled mess with specks of dirt and grass woven into it. Her face was tear-streaked and dirt smudged. Her nose was unpleasantly red, while her complexion was red and splotchy. To say she looked awful would be like saying the universe was big. She groaned, not even bothering to straighten herself out, knowing a futile case when she saw it. The only thing she could do was retreat to her room with as few people seeing her as possible.

Then it was hot bath, a quick run to the dining hall for food and then back to her room to hide out. Since tomorrow was Sunday, she was hoping the training wouldn't be as rigorous, that it would be an easier day like today. She had learned her lesson though. She was going to tire herself out with good old fashioned cardio. There had to be less painful and humiliating ways to avoid those nightmares.

She had considered asking the doctor for some sleeping pills, hoping to try one to see if they would help, if they would just simply knock her into a dreamless unconsciousness. But she decided against it. She didn't know about the side effects for those pills, whether they'd make the nightmares more pronounced. Plus, she still didn't know where she stood here. She didn't really trust anyone and she didn't want word to get out that the Uniter was starting to unravel.

"Cute accessory."

Chloe jumped, before she whirled and glared at Alek. "Stop doing that!"

He smirked, pushing himself off the wall that he had been leaning on. From the looks of it, he had been out here waiting for her to finish in medical. She found this incredibly sweet but it also confused the hell out of her. She had no idea where she stood with him, where things were between them. "What did the doctor say?"

"Separated shoulder." She indicated the dark blue sling. "He says with our accelerated healing I should be able to take this off by tomorrow." Alek stared at her for a long moment and she was acutely aware of just how awful she looked. The intense desire to retreat to her room took over and she made an awkward gesture with her free arm. "Um. . .I. . .uh, thanks. You probably need to get dinner so I. . . ." She indicated the direction of her room.

"I'll walk you back."

"You don't. . ."

"The dining hall's just past your dorm anyway."

He had a point. And she had a dilemma. Usually she would be jumping at the chance to spend time with Alek, especially when he was so agreeable like this. He hadn't been this nice to her since her arrival in Los Angeles. But on the other hand, this had been a very long, very weird day and she needed some time alone to process it. And call her shallow but she would rather not spend any more time than necessary with Alek while literally looking not like a cat, but something a cat had dragged in.

"Come on," Alek said, gently nudging her in the direction of her dorm.

They walked in silence for a while until Alek suddenly asked,

"What were you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Outside. . .on the obstacle course. . .that wall."

"Well I was trying to scale it. . ." she offered in a weak attempt at humor.

"Chloe."

"That's what I was doing."

"Why?"

"Because that wall's been consistently kicking my ass and I'm tired of looking like an idiot in front of everyone."

Alek turned his head to look at her but she avoided making eye contact. "Has it been that hard?"

"It hasn't been easy," she said softly as she felt that rush of emotion threaten to overtake her. As nice as being held by Alek had felt earlier, there was no way that she was going to have another breakdown in front of him so she ruthlessly pushed those feelings down.

Thankfully, they were drawing near her dorm so Chloe made a beeline for her door. Entering her code, she unlocked her door and turned to Alek. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

He held her gaze for a long beat before he nodded. "You should get some rest."

If only it were that easy, she thought as she closed her dorm's door behind her. If she could be assured of not having those nightmares, she would fall into her bed right now, grubby and all and sleep and sleep. But the fear of it was still enough to override whatever weariness she felt so she got some clean clothes, started a nice, hot bath and sunk in.

She managed to sleep for a little in the bath, until the cold water woke her. Crawling out, she tested her shoulder to find that it still hurt, but significantly less so. As directed, she put the sling back on after changing into a pair of sweat pants and T-shirt. Checking the time, she saw that it was well past dinner but the dining hall always snacks out and that would have to do.

She struggled with her sneakers, as tying them with one hand was pretty much impossible so she was just slipping her feet into her flip-flops when there was a knock on her door. She was completely dumbfounded to find Alek on the other side, holding a tray with some food on it. "I saved you some dinner when you didn't show up in the dining hall."

She stared at him in surprise, before she said slowly, "That is really sweet of you."

He smiled before he walked past her and set the tray onto her desk. An awkward silence descended until Alek indicated her sling. "How's that feeling?"

"Uncomfortable."

"You really shouldn't have been doing that."

There was a note of rebuke in his voice and that rankled her. She knew she shouldn't react to it but she was tired, hungry and her arm really was uncomfortable. All those things combined didn't exactly put her in an agreeable mood. "I wasn't trying to hurt myself."

"Well you did," he pointed out. "You can't be so reckless."

"I was trying to improve my performance. How is that reckless?"

"By yourself? In the dark?"

"First of all, it wasn't dark. And second, cat night vision. And third, what was I supposed to do? Everyone else was off having fun at the pier so it's not like I had a workout buddy to call on."

Alek smirked. "I don't think everyone was at the pier."

"You know what I mean!"

"Lana said she invited you along."

"Are you purposely being dense or is this your way of getting back at me?"

"Why would I want to get back at you?" he shot back, his nostrils flaring. "Oh, speaking of, I keep forgetting to ask. . .how's your human?"

She bit her lip. She didn't want to fight with Alek but, it was hard not to, especially since he was deliberately goading her. She knew that Alek talked to Jasmine and got regular updates so he'd know all about Brian and the Order and all of that. "You know perfectly well that I don't talk to Brian anymore."

"Funny how his family turned out to be high ranking members of The Order, huh?"

"Alek. . ."

"And all those times you'd run off with him, against our warnings. . ."

"I didn't know," she protested.

Alek shrugged dramatically. "It's alright. Love makes you do dumb things."

They stared at each other as Alek's words hung between them. Chloe finally sighed, knowing from the expression on his face that while he had softened a little toward her, as evidenced by his recent actions, the distance between them was still great. "I'm sorry about that. I should have. . ."

Alek held up a hand, cutting her off. "You love who you love."

She winced at the bitterness in his voice. "Alek."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead, he rose and headed for the door. "Get some rest."

"Thanks for. . ." she began but he was already gone.

#

Sunday, Chloe learned, was the only day that didn't have morning exercises. Instead, the trainees were broken into groups for "mythology studies" which Chloe discovered was learning about Mai history as well as the other races that existed in secret. She found it a bit tedious but forced herself to pay attention, as it was often her willful ignorance of Mai history and culture that often got her into trouble.

Chloe also realized, in those weeks when she had been missing Alek, which had forced her to do a bit of introspection, that her willful ignorance was another form of rejection of him. Alek was very much "Yay, Mai!" to put it mildly. She understood that he harbored some ill feelings toward humans given what happened with his parents, biological and adopted. But more than that, Alek was very proud of his Mai roots. He had been from the day they had found her running terrified in the woods.

She realized that her lack of interest, her repeated attempts to deny that aspect of herself, was a rejection of who Alek was, and all that he held dear. And then when she had said that she thought she was in love with Brian, but couldn't be with him. . .of course Alek would have taken that as just another rejection of who he was, that he was only good enough because she didn't have any other choices.

No wonder he was still so angry, so hurt. She hadn't meant to but she had hurt him very deeply, and it was going to take more than trainings or crying spells to repair that. The only problem was she didn't know what would repair it, or how she should go about it.

At least he's talking to me, she thought.

So she focused on learning about the Mai. It wasn't like she was "converting" completely. She was still very much in touch with her human side, and the people she loved dearest, most of them at least, were humans. She didn't see why it had to be one or the other, but it couldn't hurt to at least see things from Alek's point of view, to learn more about the history and culture of something that was clearly very important to him.

After mythology studies, the rest of Sunday was pretty laid back, compared to the intense training of the week. However, very few of the trainees were allowed to leave the grounds like the day before. So the center was buzzing with all the trainees either sitting around socializing or doing some chores, like their laundry. Chloe decided that if she really wanted to understand the Mai better, the best way to do so was not through studies, although that was helpful in its way, but by getting to know her fellow trainees. So she forced herself to hang out in the common areas and strike up conversations.

Chloe quickly discovered how different and interesting everyone was. Some had Mai parents and had been raised in that tradition their entire lives, very much like Jasmine and Valentina. Others were raised by surrogate Mai simply because their Mai parents were in parts of the world that wouldn't allow them to access training centers like this. And others, like Alek and herself, had been orphaned and adopted by human parents.

Some of the adopted Mai had incredibly understanding human parents, and others. . .did not. It made Chloe think about her own mother. She would like to believe that her mom would love her no matter what, but talking to some of the trainees here, she wasn't so sure. They too had been close to their human parents until they had transformed and then their parents had freaked out. Some had been turned over to the Order (who had posed as concerned doctors) and had been tortured, horrible tests had been performed on them to understand their powers before they had been rescued by fellow Mai. They all seemed to know someone who hadn't been so lucky, who hadn't made it out of the Order's clutches alive.

Chloe knew her mom wouldn't do something like that to her, but would she be completely accepting? Especially since Chloe wasn't just any Mai, she apparently was the Mai-est of the Mai. She also thought about Alek and his parents. He had opened up to her about his adopted parents but he had also been pretty vague. She wondered if, given his bitterness towards humans, whether his adopted parents had freaked out on him. He never did tell her how he had ended up in San Francisco under Valentina's care.

Chloe had spent a lot of time getting to know people in the center, but she hadn't caught sight of Alek at all. She had met up with Lana and some of her friends, all from the Texas pride. Lana had made some comment about Alek being busy but since it was supposed to be an easy day, she wondered what he was busy doing.

She managed to get some sleep on Sunday night, the nightmares staying away. She was very grateful for this because early Monday morning, the intense training cycle began anew. All of her work the previous week seemed to be paying off as she managed to get through most of the training sessions more or less intact, and didn't embarrass herself too badly either. She even managed to complete the obstacle course, which earned her cheers and applause from her fellow trainees.

She still had moments of intense homesickness but as she settled more and more into the center's routine, the less frequent those moments became. The only thing that she bothered her was lying to her mother about doing community service. At least with Paul and Amy, she didn't have to make up a story when she ended up with a bruise here or there. So far, her mother must think this is the most dangerous community service assignment ever or that Chloe was extremely klutzy or both because she had fallen into a hole, been hit by a shovel (accidentally of course) and had routinely tripped and stumbled into things. She was going to run out of excuses and imaginary ways to hurt herself soon.

Her sleeping had improved, the nightmares had abated so she had just chalked it up to the stress of getting adjusted to life in the training center. So by the middle of the week, she had been lulled into a false sense of complacency, and had let her guard down, which was why she had been completely blindsided when during a survival drill, the instructor had taken out handcuffs and had told them they needed to learn how to escape, defend themselves and anything else while bound.

Chloe could feel the terror building inside her as she watched the instructor bind the hands of a trainee and then had instructed another trainee to attack her. Chloe tried to calm herself but she kept flashing back to that night, when Scarface had bound her and then had tossed her into the freezing water. She could feel her body clenching up at the memory and her inner terror increased.

She caught a glimpse of Alek out of the corner of her and he was staring at her intently, his expression a mixture of concern and confusion. She looked away, knowing that if she met his eyes, he would know something was wrong and that would make her trying to regain control even harder. She drew in deep breaths and forced herself to think of happy, cheerful things.

Wednesday night dinner with Paul and Amy.

Sunday pancakes with Mom.

Roses from Alek.

"Chloe?" She looked at the instructor with a start. He was dangling the handcuffs on his fingers and looking at her expectantly. "Want to give it a go?"

"I. . ."

The instructor smiled. "I'll go a little easy on you."

Chloe reluctantly got to her feet and approached the instructor. He indicated that she should turn around and put her hands behind her back for him to bind. She could feel her heart racing as she slowly turned around. She felt the instructor grab one of her hands, heard the click of the handcuffs popping open and then the feel of the cold metal against her wrist.

And then something kicked in deep inside of her. "No!" she yelled and whirled around, shoving against the instructor.

"Chloe!"

She felt someone coming up behind her and she spun, easily transitioning into a roundhouse kick as she did so. Her kick was blocked and she felt strong arms around her. "No!" she screamed again and jabbed the person behind her with her elbow. She let her terror overtake her, to guide her movements. It was pure instinct as she punched, kicked, elbowed and jabbed at what she believed were assassins sent by Scarface or the Order.

It was over in a matter of minutes. She was breathing heavily and her heart was pounding in her ears. She forced herself to calm down, to focus. She looked around, anticipating another attack but as her eyes started to adjust, she was horrified to see that another trainee was laying against the wall, out cold. She looked around and found the instructor on his knees, holding his wrist, which was bent at an odd angle, his face contorted in pain.

The room was deathly silent, everyone on their feet, giving her wide berth as they stared at her open-mouthed. Chloe was aghast. She looked again at the unconscious trainee and then back to her injured instructor. "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. I. . ." She couldn't finish her sentence, wanting desperately to just get out of there that instant.

She was halfway down the hall when she heard him. She stopped, fighting to hold back the tears. 'Alek. . .I don't. . ."

In a flash, he was right in front of her. "Are you okay?" There was no denying the intense concern in his voice, especially since his accent was distinctly more pronounced.

"I. . ." She could feel the panic building inside of her again, feel the walls closing in on her. "I need to get out of here."

"Chloe. . ."

"Please."

Alek looked at her for a beat before he took her hand, leading her down the hallway. "I know a place."


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks so much for the kind words on this story. Some of the comments make me laugh b/c you're all basically calling me a drug dealer - in the nicest way possible of course!

Usual disclaimer applies.

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REDEMPTION Ch. 5

"How on Earth did you find this place?"

Chloe looked around in wonder. They were on the roof of the training center. The compound was shaped like an inverted "V" with the dorms making the two sides. Because the center of the compound had most of the common rooms, it was larger and slightly elevated, thereby making the sides of the compound look like it was sloping down. Alek had managed to find a spot where the sides of the center met the center, thereby creating a small jut in the roof, providing the perfect cover against both the guard post and anyone who happened to be out on the track field.

Because the compound only had one floor, the roof wasn't very high but the view was still spectacular. The sun was setting and the desert sky was a lit in the most glorious and vivid colors that Chloe had ever seen. Bright orange, deep blues, shimmery purples. It made the desert vista come alive.

"Well, it's not the San Francisco skyline but. . ." Alek shrugged, sitting himself next to her.

"Are you sure it's OK for us to be here?"

He smiled. "Do you really care?"

She shook her head and chuckled. "Not at all."

Of all the places she had expected Alek to take her when she had practically begged him to get her out of the compound, this place never crossed her mind. She would have settled for the track field. She just wanted some fresh air, to feel like she wasn't confined in any way but this. . .this was inspired.

"How did you know how to access the roof?"

Alek grinned. "I know how to do a lot of things you can't even imagine." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "And some that you can."

She laughed. Alek was a miracle worker. Ten minutes up here with him and she could actually laugh. Ten minutes ago and she was ready to literally claw her way out of the compound. She met his eyes. "Thank you."

Alek held her gaze for long moments before he said softly, "Ready to talk about what happened in there?" She looked away. She wanted to tell him but she didn't even know where to start. "You know you're gonna need to talk about it eventually. There are bound to be questions."

"What?"

"Chloe,' Alek said, a note of admiration creeping into his voice. "You just attacked an instructor. . .and knocked out one of our fellow trainees." He angled his head. "People are gonna talk."

"Oh, God," she groaned, putting her head into her hands. "I didn't mean to do that." She looked up at Alek. "Do you think they're okay?"

"I think you broke Mario's wrist." Alek shook his head. "And Simon is going to wake up with a very bad. . .well, all-over-ache. You wailed on him pretty good before you kicked him into the wall."

"Oh, God."

"Chloe." Something in his voice made her look at him. "What's going on?"

She wanted to brush it off, not really wanting to talk about it. But there was clearly a problem here since she had just injured two people inadvertently. But more importantly, she knew she had to be honest with Alek. A lot of their problems had arisen because she kept a part of herself closed off from him, and she hadn't been honest about her feelings, about what had been happening with Brian. If she wanted any chance at repairing things with Alek now, she had to do things differently.

So she told him. About the panic attacks. About Scarface. About reliving her death. About the nightmares.

"Is that why you've been wandering around the halls at all hours of the night?"

She looked at him curiously. "How do you know I've been wandering around? You're in the east wing."

"You should have told someone," said Alek, ignoring her question.

"I told you," she pointed out.

"We should tell Angelo."

She shook her head. "No. Alek. . ."

"He's going to want to know what happened in survival training."

She sighed. "I don't want them to think the Uniter's lost her marbles. My reputation is bad enough as it is."

"Reputation?"

"Come on," she chided. "You know that the Mai leadership is questioning my role after the whole Brian thing."

Alek looked surprised. "Have they?"

She looked to see if he was just being purposefully dense but he did seem genuinely surprised. "Didn't Jasmine or Valentina tell you?"

He shook his head. "I haven't checked in with them as often as I should."

"Why not?"

"Hey, we're not talking about me. We're talking about you. Don't change the subject."

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't like that subject."

"Chloe." She sighed before turning back to him. "You have to deal with this. I mean that really was quite the performance you put on in there and I'm guessing you don't want to do an encore."

The thought of losing control like that again horrified her. "I just. . ." She exhaled. "I don't want them to lock me away or anything like that."

He looked at her intensely for a long moment before he said quietly, "You know I would never let that happen to you."

Chloe believed him. She knew that no matter what, he wouldn't let anyone, not even the Mai, hurt her. The fact that he was still so protective, even after what had happened between them, made her heart swell with hope. Alek nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Besides, after what just happened, no one is going to want to come near you from now on."

"Oh great," she muttered. "I've been trying to make friends and everything. Now that's shot to hell."

"Beating up your teacher will do that."

Chloe laughed but then grew serious. "Will you. . .come with me when I talk to Angelo?"

"Can't think of any other place I'd rather be."

She sighed, already dreading that conversation. To keep her mind off of that unpleasant thought, she looked out on the quickly darkening skies. "Can we stay here a while?"

"As long as you want."

They sat in an easy silence as Chloe soaked up the view, the fresh air, the smell, the great open expanse of sky and Alek's presence next to her. If she closed her eyes, it would be like they were back in San Francisco, sitting on her roof and talking because she didn't want her mom to catch her with Alek in her room.

This felt familiar, it felt right. Here, there was no group trying to kill her. There were no nightmares. No panic attacks. Right here with Alek, everything else faded away.

She turned and found him looking at her intently, his eyes penetrating. She let her eyes slowly take in his face, the angular planes, the hair that always seemed to flop across his forehead and into his eyes. She felt herself drawing closer and closer to him as if an invisible force was pulling her toward him. When Alek didn't' back up, didn't flinch, she felt emboldened and closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his.

It was bliss. . .to kiss him again, to be this close to him, to feel his breath against her cheek, his soft lips against her own. She sighed, pressing closer, kissing him harder.

"I-I can't," Alek said suddenly, pulling away and getting to his feet. He looked distressed.

"I-I'm sorry, I. . ."

"Chloe, look. . ." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I can't do this with you. Not now and not ever."

"Not ever?" she whispered, thinking how definitive, how grim that sounded. His eyes narrowed and it looked like he was waging an inner battle of some kind. "Alek. . .I know you're still mad. And I understand, I mean I hurt you and. . ."

"Chloe, no." He shook his head. 'I'm not. I mean I was. I was so furious with you especially when you came here but I'm not anymore."

"Then I don't understand."

"I will help you through this. I'll go with you when you talk to Angelo and anything else. Anytime you want to come up here, just say the word." He looked at her intently. "We can be friends, but that's all. There can never be anything else between us. Ever."

"Because you're in love with Lana?" She could barely get the words out and braced herself inwardly for his answer.

"Lana?" He shook his head. "I'm not in love with Lana."

"You're not?"

"No, but I don't want to be with you either."

She felt this pain in her chest and had to take a deep breath. "You say you're not mad but if you weren't, you wouldn't say these things. You wouldn't tell me you don't ever want to be with me."

"I'm not trying to hurt you," he said softly. "We can be friends. I really mean that. But beyond that, I want to be clear about things. Last time we left things undetermined. . .it didn't work out so well."

"Just friends?" Chloe whispered. She hated to sound so needy, so whiny but she couldn't believe that there was absolutely no hope for them. "Alek, I don't understand." She looked at him beseechingly. "I know I hurt you and if you need some time to get over that. . ."

Alek was shaking his head. "It's not about time."

"Then what?"

"I just. . ." He sighed. "I can't trust you."

#

"Ouch."

Chloe nodded sadly. "Sums it up."

Amy looked at in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Me too."

"On the plus side, he's not mad at you anymore."

Chloe gave a strained laugh. "There is that."

"Chloe." She looked into her computer screen to make eye contact with her friend. "You're looking at this the wrong way you know."

"How?" She huffed. "He basically told me he'll never trust me and he'll never want to be with me."

Amy shook her head. "No, no. He said he can't trust you. . .now. That's what he thinks and. . ." Amy sighed. "I can't really blame him. Can you?"

"No," Chloe whispered.

"But," continued Amy, her face brightening. "That doesn't mean he won't trust you. You just have to make him."

"How do you make someone trust you?"

Amy shrugged. "I don't know. Be there for them. Make them feel safe with you, that no matter what, you'll always be there."

Chloe sighed. "So basically the opposite of what I've done in the last few months?"

Amy chuckled. "You weren't that bad."

"I really hurt him."

"I know," said Amy. "But look, he still wants to be friends. He's still looking out for you. He obviously still cares. That says a lot about how he really feels."

"You think?"

Amy nodded. "A part of him wants to be with you. . .otherwise, he wouldn't even bother with the whole friendship thing. But he's been burned so he's a little skittish." Amy grinned. "Just think of him as a skittish little kitty."

"Amy!"

Amy laughed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

Chloe sighed and then smiled. "Thanks. You always make me feel better."

"Do you really though?" Amy asked, her expression turning serious on Chloe's computer screen. "What about the nightmares?"

"I haven't had one in a while. Things have actually been pretty good." She made a face. "Except for you know freaking out in a training class and beating up my teacher and a fellow student." Chloe felt a surge of guilt. "Oh and betraying a friend. Otherwise, it's all good."

"You betrayed a friend?"

"Lana."

"Oh, her?"

"Yes, her," Chloe insisted. "She was the first person to befriend me when I got here. She's been nothing but nice to me. I mean if it wasn't for her, I would have spent that first day wandering around like a fool." She shook her head. "And I repay her kindness by making a move on her boyfriend."

"It doesn't sound like he was her boyfriend. It didn't sound that serious between them."

"Still," Chloe said. "What I did was not cool." She sighed. "I've just been messing up all over the place."

"You're only human," Amy said before she laughed softly. "Actually, you're only Mai."

Chloe laughed before she nodded her head resolutely. "So, let's see. In the next two and a half weeks, I need to apologize to Lana, Mario and Simon. Talk to Angelo. Try to figure out how to stop freaking out. Earn the Mai leadership's respect. And of course, get Alek to trust me again."

"Piece of cake."


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all for the reviews and support of this story. It means a lot.

As you may know from the news, a hurricane is rumbling up the east coast. . .and I happen to be in its path. I'm not directly in its path but they are warning us we might lose power over the weekend so I thought I'd update now.

Usual disclaimers about me owning nothing.

#

REDEMPTION - Ch. 6

"Are you sure he's not busy? He's probably busy. I mean he has to run this whole place and. . ."

"Chloe."

She sighed. "I just think. . ."

"You'll be fine." Alek offered her an encouraging smile. "Angelo is really great."

"With crazy people?"

"You're not crazy," Alek rebuked her. "You just have to work through a few things."

More than a few things, she thought, looking at him from beneath her lashes. True to his word, Alek had come to her dorm to accompany her to see Angelo the next afternoon. Also true to his word, he was friendly and joking, and it felt like old times again. Except something was different, something was missing. And every time she looked at him she couldn't help thinking about how he couldn't really be open with her, couldn't really share everything because a part of him didn't trust her enough to do so.

They stopped at a door that looked like the doors to the dorms, except this room was located behind the communications center, and they had to wait for one of the guards behind the counter to buzz them through a set of secured doors about ten feet away. She stared at the door, not moving.

"It'll be fine. Really."

She inhaled deeply and then knocked. In an instant a voice commanded them to enter. She opened the door and found herself in an expansive room, decorated in deep gold and red tones. At first glance, it was rather intimidating.

"_Buenas tardes_," Angelo said in greeting. "I am glad you could come to see me."

I didn't think I had a choice, Chloe thought. Out loud, she said, "Hi."

"Alek," Angelo addressed him. "_Gracias_. Now you will excuse us while _Senorita_ King and I talk?"

Chloe turned to him, suddenly panicked. Alek offered her a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay. I'll be outside when you're done." Chloe wanted to protest but she felt like there was little she could do so she nodded. Alek reached out and gave her arm a squeeze before he nodded at Angelo and left.

"He is very protective." Angelo smiled. "That is a good thing."

"Yeah," Chloe agreed as she followed Angelo into what looked like a sitting room. It had a big sofa, in red leather and two arm chairs, upholstered in a material she couldn't identify but it looked like a soft, faded suede. The armchairs were in a deep tan color and contrasted with the red sofa vividly.

Angelo indicated the sofa. "_Por favor._" After she had seated herself, very stiffly, on the sofa, Angelo took a seat in one of the armchairs, turning to he could face her. "Now. . .let us discuss the incident the other day."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I really didn't." Her words were coming out in a rush and she had to will herself to slow down. "I just. . .I don't know, something. . .happened."

To her surprise, Angelo seemed amused. "It is not every day that someone bests Mario. He is our survival training instructor for a reason."

"I caught him off-guard."

Angelo chuckled. "_Senorita _King, the whole point of survival training is to teach you how to survive anything, including surprise attacks." His eyes twinkled. "How many assassins do you know that will tell you when and where they plan to kill you?"

Chloe looked down at the floor, which was covered with a bright, printed rug. "None."

"_Si_." Angelo smiled. "That you were able to overcome one of our most skilled fighters and instructors. . .it speaks of the tremendous power you hold within you. . .as the Uniter."

Chloe thought about how terrified she had been as Mario was about to cuff her. "I don't feel very powerful."

Angelo looked at her thoughtfully. "Please. . .tell me of these. . ." He waved his fingers around. ". . .panics. . those feelings that made you attack in class."

She stared at him as an inner battled raged inside of her. She was still uncertain about whether she could trust him. And while she believed that Alek would do everything in his power to protect her, he was still just one person. . .yes, one very clever, powerful and even deadly person, but could he go against all the Mai here? At the same time, if she didn't tell Angelo, she'd carry these feelings inside of her forever, and then what? She had eight more lives. . .that was a long time to feel this way.

So she told Angelo. She was careful about how she worded it. She didn't tell him about feeling so helpless, of the sheer terror that would encompass her at times, but she told him about reliving her death, about fearing an attack on her life. She mentioned the nightmares but was careful about not making them sound like they were interfering with her day-to-day functioning.

Angelo listened quietly with no comment until she finished. After she was done, he sat there, rubbing his chin with one hand, his expression thoughtful. After long moments, he finally spoke.

"Death is. . .was traumatic, _si?_" Chloe nodded. "That, you see, is a burden you carry as the Uniter that no one else does." She gave him a questioning look. "We all have but a single life but you. . .you have nine. . .or eight now is it?"

She nodded, fully engrossed in what Angelo was saying.

"You see," Angelo continued. "Death and dying are traumatic events. . .it is not pleasant, even in the best of circumstances. It is never easy to leave your life." Angelo offered her a kind smile. "But the hidden blessing in death is that, once you die. . .the memory of it. . .of that trauma. . .it dies with you. And whatever you believe happens after death. . .whether you go to heaven, get reincarnated. . .whatever your beliefs are, you don't take the memory of your death with you."

Angelo sighed. "Unfortunately, as the Uniter, you are deprived of this blessing. You retain the memory of all your lives. . .and also all your deaths." Angelo placed his hand on top of hers, which was resting on her knee. "It is no wonder you have these feelings of panic and anxiety." He patted her hand. "It is very normal."

Chloe felt an immense sense of relief that Angelo did not think she was crazy. "How do I. . .stop them?"

"That. . .I do not know." He shook his head. "The Mai has but one Uniter so we, unfortunately, do not understand everything about you. We understand your role and destiny but there is also much we do not understand or know."

Whatever relief Chloe felt evaporated quickly at those words. What she heard was that she was basically alone in all of this.

"Do not despair, _por favor_." Angelo smiled. "Just because we do not understand does not mean we can't. . .or don't want to." Angelo met her eyes and she was taken aback by the admiration shining in them. "You are a very brave young lady. And you have within you a source of great power. I believe that if we can. . ." Angelo made a motion with his hands, bringing his curved fingers together so that the tips touched. ". . .connect you to that source, it will allow you to move beyond these panics. You would not have been given nine lives unless you were also given a way to handle those nine lives, which includes losing them."

What Angelo said made sense because Chloe had felt that inner power. She had tapped into it when she had tried to scale the wall. Sure that had been disastrous but that was more because she miscalculated things than not having enough power. She also knew there had been something else driving her when she had freaked out and had attacked in survival class. If she could control that somehow, she knew she wouldn't feel so scared or helpless, which would go a long way in making her less anxious about the next assassin to come down the pike.

"We will. . .modify your training, _si_?" Angelo nodded. "You will work with me a few days. . .we will try to connect to that power inside of you. . .to help you harness it."

They spent some time discussing her schedule and when she should see him next. As Chloe headed back out, she had to admit that Alek had been right. Talking to Angelo had made her feel better. It was a relief to have someone else know about what was going on, and who wanted to help her. She didn't know if what Angelo was proposing would actually work but it had to be better than being so terrified of going to sleep that she aimlessly wandered around all night, exhausting herself in the process.

She found Alek at the communications center, talking to one of the guards there. When he saw her, he easily fell into step besides her. "So how'd it go?"

"Well, he doesn't think I'm crazy first of all."

"Because you're not."

She smiled. "He said he understood why I was having these panic attacks. He wants to modify my training a bit. I'll be working with him twice a week." She chuckled softly. "And I think he was amused that I beat up Mario."

Alex laughed. "That sounds like Angelo."

"Thank you," she said, touching his arm so he faced her. "For last night and coming with me today."

"Don't you get tired of thanking me?" he teased.

"Don't you get tired of rescuing me?" she returned, completely serious.

Alek considered her question, before he shook his head. "You keep things interesting." He nudged her with his shoulder. "Come on, I'm starved. Hopefully they're still serving lunch."

They chatted easily as they walked to the dining hall. Once there, they grabbed some plates and Chloe was glad to see that lunch was still being served. She was suddenly famished. Just as she and Alek loaded up their plates, she caught sight of Lana and felt a surge of guilt hit her.

Next up on the To Do list, she thought.

"Hey, I'll meet up with you okay?"

She turned to Alek whose attention was on an instructor Chloe had never seen before. "What. . ." She never finished her sentence because Alek had already taken off. "That's kinda rude," she muttered after him.

Alek's abrupt departure suddenly presented her with a golden opportunity to apologize to Lana and she really couldn't think of an excuse not to seize that opportunity. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where Lana was sitting. It looked like Lana had just finished her lunch. "Hey, Chloe."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Of course not," said Lana, clearing some space on the table so that Chloe could put down her tray. "You know you're the hot topic today."

She groaned softly. "Let me guess. . .survival class?"

Lana grinned. "Of all the days for me to take a special class with _Sensei_. . ." Lana shook her head. "I would have paid to see someone take down Mario."

"He was probably trying not to hurt me so I managed to land a lucky shot."

"That's not what I heard."

"Really," Chloe stressed. She looked around the dining hall. "Have you seen Simon? I sort of owe him a really huge apology. . .and maybe some painkillers."

Lana chuckled. "He's fine. I saw him at morning exercise. A little bruised but that didn't seem to slow him down much."

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad."

Lana checked her watch. "Shoot. I need to go." Lana smiled and then pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "I'm glad I caught up with you here though." She handed Chloe the paper. "It's my phone number and e-mail in Texas."

"Texas?"

Lana nodded. "I'm leaving tonight."

"What?"

"Yeah. I came here to train for the summer but I have to head back to college. Classes start next week so I have like two million things to do."

"What about Alek?" Chloe blurted before she could stop herself.

"Alek?" Lana smiled. "I mean, he's great. He's sweet and a lot fun but I live in Texas and he doesn't. We had fun this summer. . .kind of like a camp romance thing." Lana paused and then gave Chloe a sly smile. "And just between us girls, I think he's still hung up on someone else."

"Who?"

Lana laughed. "You really don't know?"

Chloe's eyes widen as the implication sunk in. "Lana, I wouldn't. . ." Chloe stopped because she sort of did last night. "Nothing's going on between me and Alek."

Lana smiled at her easily. "I know but I also know Alek became really distracted once you showed up here. It didn't take a lot to put the pieces together, especially since he's not Mr. Subtle."

"But. . ."

"Like I said, it was never anything serious between us. We had fun but we both knew the score. He knows I was going back to Texas. And I knew from the first day he came here that he was trying to get over someone, and not quite succeeding."

Chloe shook her head. "You can't possibly be this nice."

Lana laughed. "I'm realistic. And you're not lacking in the nice department yourself. It was a little hard to hate you even if I wanted to, which I didn't. . .and don't." Lana grinned. "Besides, you're the Uniter, how can I compete with that?"

"I'm sorry, I. . ."

"I'm kidding," Lana said, chuckling. "It's fine. Really. Like I said, Alek and I knew the score going in so you don't have to apologize for anything." Lana met her eyes. "I really do want you to keep in touch."

"I will," said Chloe, even more in awe of Lana. If only she had handled things with Brian and Alek as well as Lana was handling things now, she could have saved herself a lot of trouble.

"Great." Lana gave her a conspiratorial smile and leaned in, lowering her voice enough for Chloe to hear. "As for Alek, don't let him push you away. He's. . ."

"He's what?" Chloe and Lana turned to find Alek by their table, his eyes darting back and forth between them. "What am I interrupting?"

"Nothing," said Lana, standing. "I was just telling Chloe I'm leaving tonight."

"Right," said Alek. "Sure you don't want me to go with you to the airport?"

Lana placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's sweet of you to offer but there's two other trainees leaving too so we're all going to be at LAX together. Besides, I hate long goodbyes."

Alek nodded. "I'll come by your room to help you with your stuff after my session."

"Thanks." Lana turned to Chloe and then bent and hugged her. "It was really nice meeting you Chloe."

"It was nice meeting you too," said Chloe and she meant it. Lana gave her another warm smile before she took off. Alek slid into the seat that Lana had just vacated and began eating his lunch. "She's really nice."

"Mmm-hmm," he responded, his mouth full.

"I can see why. . .you'd want to be with her." Alek gave another mumbled response, his attention on his lunch. "Are you. . .okay with her leaving?" Alek looked at her out of the corner of his eye before he laughed. "What's so funny?"

He shrugged. "You're cute when you're jealous and trying to be all subtle."

'I am not jealous!"

"Of course not."

"I'm not!" She was going to say something more but knew that it would just end up badly. . .for her. So she decided to change the subject. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"Cameron. He's training me and had to change our time for today."

"Training you for what?" Alek shifted uncomfortably and muttered something that even her super-hearing couldn't make out. "Hmmm. . .vague and mysterious."

"That's part of my charm."

She laughed but she couldn't help feeling unsettled. Her empathy powers didn't work on other Mai, but she knew that something was going on with Alek, something that he clearly didn't want to share with her. They may be friends now, but that didn't mean that it was going to be an easy road. Moments like this reminded her that Alek really did have trust issues with her. She may have scaled the wall in the obstacle course but the truly impenetrable wall was the one Alek had erected around his heart. . .against her.


	7. Chapter 7

You know what's great about not losing power during a hurricane? You got nowhere to go so you can write. :)

Thanks as always for the kind words on the story.

Usual disclaimers

###

REDEMPTION - Ch. 7

"You need to find the trigger."

Chloe could feel her frustration swelling. It was her second session with Angelo. She knew what he wanted, what he wanted her to do but she couldn't. They had been at this for more than a hour and it wasn't working. What's more, it was Friday night and instead of enjoying some downtime after an intense week of training, she was training even more, training futilely from the looks of things.

She couldn't find the trigger he wanted her to. . .that thing inside her that allowed her to tap into that well of power that Angelo had told her she had, and which she had inadvertently let loose when she had gone crazy in survival class. She had felt it, knew it was there but it was almost like she was the Incredible Hulk, that this power came out and she had absolutely no control over it.

Angelo had started with calming and focused exercises, telling her to listen to her body, to become more attuned to it. And she had, but that didn't mean she could summon these powers at will. All the meditation exercises, the breathing exercises, the focus exercises had basically left her. . . .calm and frustrated. Very oxymoronic, she thought.

"I'm sorry, Angelo," she said. 'I can't. I don't know how."

"I will kill you!"

Chloe screamed as Angelo came at her. Instinctively, she fell back into a fighting position, as Angelo neared, his arms raised and his body coiled like a snake. He came at her quick, much quicker than she had expected, since Angelo usually moved around in such a lumbering way, as if he had all the time in the world.

She easily blocked his blow but then he picked up the pace and managed to get a good blow in, knocking her off her feet. As she laid on her side, watching his feet swing back to deliver a kick, she suddenly felt a surge of power and in the next instant, she was on her feet, her entire body humming with that power, ready to attack.

Angelo suddenly stopped, once again calm, as if his outburst had never happened. He smiled at her. "Fear is a trigger."

Chloe's heart was still beating rapidly so it took her a moment to calm herself down. "I felt it," she breathed.

"Very strong, _si_?"

She nodded. "It's. . .a little scary."

"_Si, si." _Angelo indicated the nearby chair. "We must learn to control that, to have you be aware of when you are using that power so that you don't, ah. . .break Mario's other wrist." Chloe could see that Angelo was teasing her and she felt the heat in her cheeks. "But more important for us. . .for you. . .we must find a way for you to trigger this power without scaring you every time." Angelo shook his head. "You cannot live your life always in fear. _No bueno._"

"No," Chloe agreed. As exhilarating as it was to connect to that incredible source of power in her, she did not want to have people attacking her out of nowhere or scaring the hell out of her first. She didn't think she could handle that.

"Do not fear this power, Chloe." Angelo smiled. "You were meant to have it, to connect to it and to use it. It is part of your legacy as the Uniter."

"They should have given me a user's manual then."

Angelo laughed. "It would have been simpler." He grew serious. "Your power, Chloe, it does not come from anywhere except within you. You have nine lives. Think of it. Think of the things you learn, the power you gain in but a single life. For you, you have nine. Nine lives worth of knowledge, training, power and understanding." Angelo smiled. "I say this so you don't think that this power is from somewhere else, or something else. That it is not a part of you, because it is. And because it is a part of you, you can control it."

She nodded, taking in Angelo's words. He was giving her lots to think about.

"_Bien._" Angelo nodded approvingly. "We will continue tomorrow afternoon."

Chloe nodded and bid him goodbye before she headed back to her dorm. Today had been a hard day. She had her first survival class since "the incident" and Mario was sporting a cast on his wrist, for their accelerated healing powers couldn't heal bones quite that quickly. He had been completely understanding about it, but Chloe had still felt bad, which had kept her off her game, resulting in her getting her ass kicked during the drill, one involving a blindfold.

Then there were her sessions with Angelo, which really put her in touch with her deepest feelings. The problem was that, she didn't or couldn't face some of those feelings. There was a feeling her mind had buried those feelings so deep. It was like being in intensive therapy. . .without realizing you were. She only made the connection when after the first meditative session with Angelo, she had felt an uncontrollable urge to cry, even though nothing was really bothering her. When she thought about it, however, she began to understand since that session was about reconciling her Mai and human "selves" which had awaken her anxiety and guilt about lying to her mother, among other things.

She didn't really have a chance to properly mourn the loss of her humanity, as it were. One minute she was fine, the next she was transforming and then she had been killed, resurrected and everything had been going at 100 miles an hour ever since. Angelo was making her put on the brakes and process all of this.

It was heavy stuff and she didn't know if she was ready for it, but she didn't seem to have much of a choice. And now this latest session where he had managed to trigger that well of power inside of her but in order to do so, he had to tap into her inner terror and fear. She knew there was a better way because she was feeling anxious and nervous and unsettled.

To top it all off, Alek was MIA today. They were getting along much better. She'd even go so far as to say they were getting along better than ever. He usually sought her out at meal times and they joked and laughed and talked. The more time they spent together, the more Chloe could feel him letting his guard down around her. He was sharing more things. . .but he was also still very secretive. Especially about his schedule. She had asked him why he wasn't in some sessions while present in others and he had made some remark about the center had "modified my schedule, like Angelo did with you." When she had asked him why they had modified his schedule, he had shrugged it off and then changed the subject.

She didn't push him, fearing that if she did, he would really close himself off from her. Amy's bad joke aside, Alek really was skittish around her and she had to be careful, always worrying that something she said or did might be the killing blow to tenuous truce they currently had. So she accepted that he would be a little mysterious, that he would have periods of being MIA. Still, it had been a whole day and she hadn't seen him at all. That hadn't happened before, even when he was still angry at her.

She sighed tiredly, heading for her room. She needed some sleep but feeling so anxious and unsettled, she wasn't sure that would be a good thing. Just as she was passing the doors that led outside to the track field, she decided, on a whim, to take a detour. In about ten minutes, she was unlatching the door that led out to the roof like she remembered Alek doing when he had taken her out here to calm her down after her violent panic attack.

To her surprise, when she stepped out onto the roof, she saw Alek sitting at the far end, much too close to the roof's edge for her liking. He was sitting so close that one of his legs was dangling over the side. The roof wasn't very high and she knew Alek had great reflexes, but still. . .

"Alek." She knew he had to have heard her long before she announced her presence but he didn't turn around right away. "So this is where you've been hiding out."

"Chloe," he said, his voice sounding strained. "It's not really a good time."

She approached him gingerly, stopping a few feet from him. She looked over the edge and felt her stomach twist. "Um, Alek?" He inclined his head, to let her know he was listening. "Would you mind scooching in a little?"

He turned, his expression incredulous. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Chloe, assuming I fall, which is highly unlikely, it wouldn't even kill me."

"Heights make me nervous."

"You hang out on your roof."

"I don't hang out on the edge of my roof." He was about to say something but she jumped in. "Couldn't you be all contemplative a few feet this way? Please?" Alek looked at her before he sighed and then very deliberately stood up, took several large steps back and then sat down again. "Thank you."

The faintest trace of a smile crossed Alek's lips before he went back to staring out at the desert. Since he hadn't told her to leave, she sat down, close but not too close. She didn't ask him any questions, didn't push, didn't engage in meaningless chit chat. Like Amy had told her, she was there for him and if he just wanted to sit and stare into the middle distance, then that's what she would do.

"Today's my mom's birthday," Alek said suddenly.

"Your mom?"

"My human mom," Alek clarified. His voice became wistful. "She loved celebrating birthdays. She would make all this fuss, plan these parties and surprises." He chuckled. "But for her birthday, she'd just want to spend time with the family. That's all she wanted. That was always her only wish. No presents, no surprises, no parties. She'd just want her family around her." He turned and she was taken aback by the pain she saw in his eyes. "Do you think she's getting her wish today?"

"Alek." She moved a little closer to him, slowly, cautiously. It occurred to her that she really was treating him like a skittish cat, if that cat were say, a lion or something. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," he whispered.

She moved even closer so that her shoulder just skimmed against his. "Do you miss them?"

He sighed deeply. "Sometimes."

"What were they like?"

"Really great." His voice turned hard. "Until I transformed that is."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "Reacted like a typical, ignorant human would." She winced at the bitterness and anger in his voice. "They took me to doctors, had a bunch of tests performed on me."

"Oh, Alek. . ."

"It's alright," he said. "I lucked out. At least they took me to real doctors, not operatives from the Order pretending to be doctors."

Chloe remembered the stories some of her fellow trainees had told her, about the torture and the "tests" that they had suffered or witnessed. She involuntarily shivered to think that Alek might have been subjected to all of that and was grateful that he had been spared. Still, it didn't sound like he really lucked out.

"The human doctors couldn't explain it of course. They had all kinds of theories. My parents pretended that everything was fine, that they'd work to find me a cure."

"Pretended?"

"My hearing had kicked in. I heard them talking one night." She closed her eyes, hearing the pain in his voice. She remembered what Alek had said to her months ago, about accidentally overhearing something you might not like. She hadn't realized he was speaking from experience, and given what he had later overheard about Brian, it was a wonder he didn't curse his Mai hearing. "They were scared I was turning into some kind of monster. They wanted to send me back to the orphanage, or turn me over to the government."

"What did you do?"

"I ran."

"How did you end up with Valentina?"

"I was living on the streets for a while and then happened to run into another Mai. From there we made our way overseas, we heard that there might be a large population of Mai in the U.S. I was in New York for a little while when I ran into Jasmine." He grinned. "When I say ran, I literally mean I ran right into her. I was being chased and she got in my way."

"Who was chasing you?" she asked, completely enthralled by Alek's story. There was so much about him she didn't really know, but wanted so much to find out.

"The police." He shrugged. "They didn't stand a chance." She smiled at his arrogance peeking through. "Anyway, from the way I was moving, Jasmine figured out that I was Mai and I guess she told Valentina and they somehow tracked me down. When Valentina heard that I was living on the streets, she took me in."

"How long ago was that?"

"Almost two years now."

"And you haven't talked to your adopted parents since?"

"There was nothing else to say."

"I'm so sorry." It sounded inadequate but she didn't know what else to say.

He shrugged. "It all worked out for the best. I have Valentina and Jasmine now."

"And me."

Alek turned his head and she held his gaze unwaveringly, trying to say silently what she has been unable to do so verbally. She could see the doubt in his eyes, but it was unsteady, as if he was fighting to hold on to it. "Do I?"

"Yes," she said simply, as she looped her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder. Minutes passed and then she felt Alek relax beside her as his head came down to rest against hers. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, staring into the dark, desert night and leaning on each other but she wouldn't have minded staying there forever.

#

Something changed between her and Alek after that night on the roof. She could feel it. The problem was, she didn't know what it was, and Alek remained as inscrutable as ever. He had thanked her when they had finally climbed back down, and she had seen something in his eyes, but then he was off, saying he had something to do but he had let his hand linger against hers.

The next morning at breakfast, there was an ease between them and she could sense that she had chipped away at that wall even more. Still, he had refused to elaborate when he told her he didn't have the morning free, even though it was Saturday because he had another one of those super secret, special training sessions. He had promised to find her at lunch and that they could spend some time together that afternoon.

As it turns out, that wasn't meant to be either because no sooner than she had gotten off of Skype with her mother than she had been summoned to another session with Angelo. This session proved to be the most intense one, running straight through lunch and beyond, which had made her miss meeting up with Alek.

So she was tired and irritable and the last thing she wanted to do was a session that would probe her deepest, darkest fears. So she was a little resistant to Angelo's training, which in turn, had made him frustrated and angry. After a particularly disastrous attempt at deep meditation, Angelo had finally lost his temper.

"You must do this!" he had barked at her.

"I'm trying."

He shook his head. "No, you are not. I can see that you are not fully committed." He expelled a loud breath. "This is not something you undertake whenever you want to. This requires full commitment. It demands it!"

"I'm committed," she protested, feeling her own anger surging. She was getting sick of this. She didn't ask for any of this. All she had wanted when she had turned 16 was a real kiss with a boy and a car. Instead she got death and pain and lies.

"You are not," Angelo bellowed. "Your mind is elsewhere. That cannot be. Do you think you have all the time in the world to do this? What happens when you need to draw on this power and you cannot?" His eyes pierced into her very soul. "You may have multiple lives but those around you do not." His face hardened. "The Order shows no mercy. This is a war, there are no prisoners, no one is safe, especially your family and friends."

Chloe blanched at his words. Almost everyone that she loved was back in San Francisco, unprotected for all she knew. She had assumed that Valentina would continue to look after her friends and mother but given the shake-up recently, she couldn't be sure. She tried to calm the rising anxiety inside of her, reminding herself that she had spoken with her mother earlier today.

But that was hours ago and anything could have happened since then, the voice in her head taunted her.

"Now you realize the seriousness of this."

She turned on Angelo, suddenly hating him. She could feel her body tensing and that well of power, she could feel it within reach, like it was just behind this door inside her and yet. . . And just like that, she lost it. One minute it was right there, within reach, and the next it was gone.

"I hate this!" she screamed. "I hate these sessions. I hate this place. I hate being the Uniter. I hate you!" She didn't know who was more surprised by her outburst – her or Angelo. But then mortification quickly overtook surprise and Chloe cringed inwardly. God, I sounded like a two year old. "I. . .I'm sorry."

Angelo's face softened. "Perhaps we should end things here and try again another time?"

Chloe didn't hesitate in gathering her things and getting out of there. She made a beeline for her room and tried her mom on Skype. When she couldn't reach her mom, her anxiety magnified and she tried to reach Amy or Paul. They were also unreachable. By now her anxiety levels were near critical mass levels so she tried to reach Jasmine, but didn't have any luck there either. She quickly pulled up her e-mail program and sent an e-mail to Jasmine, asking her if there were still protectors looking after her mom.

Checking her watch, she could see that it was near dinner time so she set off for the dining hall, hoping to catch up with Alek. But today was apparently not her day for connecting with anyone as Alek was nowhere to be found. Since she still didn't know what his dorm room number was, there was really no way for her to find him if he wasn't in any of the common areas.

She picked at her dinner and then, unable to ease the restless tension, she had gone back to her dorm, changed into workout clothes and had gone for a long, long run on the track field. The hot, night air and the exertion had managed to tire her out, just as she had hoped and she stumbled back to her room, just managing to change into her PJ's before crawling to bed and falling asleep.

The next thing she knew, she was running through the streets of San Francisco again, except this time, she wasn't being chased. This time she was running towards something, desperately. Her legs were screaming in pain but she kept pushing, feeling like she was running out of time.

Suddenly, she was n a warehouse and there was her mom and Paul and Amy, bound and gagged. They were perched precariously on the edge of a railing that jutted out of the warehouse, over the Bay. She saw the terror in their eyes but as she tried to run to them, to free them, strong hands held her back. She struggled to free herself, kicking and screaming but it was no use and then to her abject horror, Scarface appeared and with a malevolent smile, he took out a knife and then stabbed her mother with it before kicking her off the railing. There was a sickening splash as her mother's body hit the water. . .

"Chloe!"

"No, no! Mom!"

"Wake up!" She opened her eyes and was surprised to find Alek looming over her, his arms restraining her against the bed. She gulped in air, feeling her mind clearing. She looked down at her hands and saw that her claws had popped out, and worse yet, there was a scratch along Alek's arm.

"Oh my God. . ." She quickly retracted her claws. Alek sighed, seeing that she was calming down. Slowly, he released his strong hold on her arms. "Alek. . .your arm. . ."

He glanced at his bleeding arm, his expression curious as if he were noticing it for the first time. Then he turned back at her. "Are you okay?"

"You're asking me that? You're the one bleeding."

He shrugged. "It's a flesh wound." He got up and went into her bathroom. She heard him rummaging through the drawer and then several minutes later, he emerged with a first aid kit tucked under his arm and a towel pressed against the wound.

She quickly got up and took the first aid kit. She took out some antiseptic and gauze and went about dressing Alex's arm. She was so focused on the task that it wasn't until she was done and Alek was returning the first aid kit to her bathroom that it occurred to her that Alek was in her dorm room.

"Alek, what are you doing here?" she asked him when he came back out of the bathroom.

"Waking you up from a hellish nightmare from the sounds of it."

She shook her head. "But. . .how? I mean you're in the east wing." That was when she noticed he was in his pajama bottoms and a white tank. "You heard me all the way from. . .but the rooms are soundproofed. . .I don't. . .how?"

Alek smiled at her nonsensical rambling before he quirked an eyebrow at her. "What makes you think I'm in the east wing?"

"You're never at morning exercises," she offered weakly.

He chuckled. "That's excellent, if faulty deduction, Sherlock."

"You're in the west wing?"

He nodded. "W35."

"W35," she repeated and then she realized. "You're across the hall?"

He grinned. "Apparently Angelo thought it would be nice for you to be close to your "protector.""

"You've been across the hall from me all this time?" She shook her head. "But. . .the rooms, they're soundproofed. You said so."

"You left your door ajar." Chloe tried to remember if she had closed her door and she honestly couldn't remember. She had been so tired that it was all she could do to change into her PJs. Alek sat down on her bed, running a hand through his hair. "I was coming back from the common room and heard you screaming bloody murder."

"Oh." She sighed, sitting down next to him on the bed. "How come you were in the common room so late?"

"I always go to bed this late." He shrugged. "I used to stay up this late when I was first put on Uniter duty."

"Alek. . ." She shook her head. She had no idea he was up so late on Uniter duty. "But school and. . ."

"I don't need a lot of sleep."

"I never knew you did that."

"You didn't know a lot of things." His statement was delivered gently, with no reproach. He sighed. "Was it the same nightmare?" She shivered as images from the nightmare flashed across her mind's eye. "Hey, it's okay." Alek pulled her against him, his arm wrapped protectively around her.

"It was my mom. He killed her."

"He who?"

"Scarface." She inclined her head to meet his eyes. "Is my mom still under protection? Amy? Paul?"

"Chloe," Alek said soothingly. "Your mom and friends are fine. And yes, they are still watched at night, and I doubt the Order will try a public attack in broad daylight. They're fine."

"I tried to contact them but they weren't there. And Jasmine didn't answer my e-mail. Actually, she might have and I. . ."

She was about to retrieve her laptop when Alek stilled her. "Hey, hey. Relax. They're fine, okay? You probably couldn't reach them because it's Saturday and they were out running errands or whatever."

"Could you check with Jasmine anyway? Tomorrow?" He nodded. "Thanks." She stayed wrapped up in Alek's arms for a while and could feel herself relaxing until a big yawn escaped her. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Alek, and standing up. "You must be tired."

"I'm alright."

"I'm sorry about your arm."

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, more concerned about her than his arm.

"Yeah," she said, although she didn't quite feel it. "Thanks." She gave him a deprecating smile. "I think I should just get cards printed out with that to hand them to you every time you come to my rescue."

He grinned. "That might cost you a pretty penny. Unless you buy in bulk." He rose and headed for the door before he turned back to her. "Are you going back to sleep?"

She considered lying to him but then remembered that she was on a quest to regain his trust and lying was definitely not the way to go about that. "I. . .can't. I'll just. . .chill out in the common room."

"Chloe."

"It's fine. Don't worry."

"You can't keep doing this. Training's hard enough without you being sleep deprived."

"Oh look who's talking," she shot back. "Mr.-Stays-Up-Until-Three-In-The-Morning."

"I don't recall changing my last name to that," he deadpanned.

"Alek, it's fine, really. Go get some sleep." But he didn't' budge, just staring at her. Finally, he walked back over to her bed and sat down. "What are you doing?"

"Come here," he commanded, his hand outstretched. She eyed him warily before she took his hand. He pulled her over to the bed, getting her to lie down. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."

"No, Alek. . ."

"Shhhh." He went to shut off the light. She felt the bed creak as he sat down near her hip, taking her hand in his. "Just close your eyes and relax."

The thought of falling asleep and losing control, of seeing that awful image of her mother's body falling into the water. . . She tried to sit up. "Alek, I can't. . ."

"Chloe. Trust me." His thumb was making soothing motions across her hand, and goodness, did it feel good. "Just close your eyes. Relax." She simply stared at him. "You know I can see in the dark right?" She made a face, which made Alek laugh. "Your eyes are still open."

"Fine," she huffed.

She closed her eyes, telling herself to focus on the feel of Alek's thumb as it gently rubbed the skin of her hand. "Now, listen to my heartbeat. Just focus on that. Nothing else."

Knowing that any protest would be futile, Chloe did as he commanded, focusing her hearing on the soft, rhythmic, _bom-bom-bom_ of Alek's heart. To her surprise, after a few minutes of this, she felt herself relaxing. Her mind free of worries, all it was focused on was Alek and his heartbeat. Before she knew it, the tide of sleep pulled her under and she drifted off, feeling nothing but peaceful and safe.


	8. Chapter 8

I can't thank you enough for the support you've shown this story. It really does mean a lot.

Usual disclaimers.

###

REDEMPTION - Ch. 8

Chloe awoke with the sunlight streaming into her dorm from the small window over her desk. That, in itself, would have been a strange thing since life at the compound usually began before the sun rose. She was now used to getting up while it was still dark outside, the sun just only beginning its ascent in the sky. The fact that it had risen, and risen enough to be casting sunlight into her room told her that she had slept late, which had never happened before since her arrival in Los Angeles.

But that wasn't the only thing that gave her pause was within seconds of awaking, she knew that she wasn't alone in her room. Actually, she wasn't alone in her bed. She would have panicked except that she liked the sensation of having a warm body pressed against her, the sound of another person breathing evenly.

She closed her eyes for a few minutes, savoring the feel of Alek's long, muscular body pressed against her. The warmth from his body heat, coupled with the weight of his body against her back made her feel incredibly snug, comfortable and safe. If she could, she'd stay this way forever, but for now, she settled on trying to memorize every bit of this, from the sound of Alek's even breathing, to the feel of the soft hairs on his arm tickling her cheek as his arm cradled her head.

Reluctantly, she turned around carefully, her bed was a full size one, and usually sizeable enough for her but with two people in it, it was a bit of a tight fit. Finally rotating herself 180 degrees, she found herself staring straight at Alek's jaw. She carefully eased herself up on an elbow and unabashedly studied him.

He did indeed look very peaceful in his sleep, serene and dare she say it. . .angelic. His features, which were already so angular, could often be harsh and sharp, especially when his emotions ran high. But in slumber, it all softened, the edges smoothing. He slept on his back, and didn't snore. One arm had been cradling her head and was now sprawled across her pillow. His tank had risen up his torso, revealing the most tantalizing glimpse of his sculpted abs, and that trail of hair that led down to. . .

"See something you like?"

She gasped, her eyes darting back up to Alek's face. His eyes fluttered open and his lips spread into a smirk. "How long have you been awake?" she demanded.

"Oh, since I sensed that I was being ogled like a piece of meat."

She felt herself blushing. "Alek."

"I didn't say I minded," he told her with a sexy grin that made her blush even more. He lifted his head, looking around the room. "What time is it?"

She reached for her watch. "Almost 9:30."

He groaned softly. "I don't usually sleep this late." His eyes glinted teasingly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep at all but your snoring was rather hypnotic."

She swatted his chest. "I do not snore."

"How would you know?"

"I know," she insisted.

Alek laughed but then grew serious as his eyes probed her face. "How'd you sleep? Any more nightmares?"

Chloe thought about it and was surprised to realize that not only did she not have any nightmares, she had actually slept really well. Probably the best sleep she has had since coming to the training center. It wasn't one of those exhausted sleep, but the kind that left her feeling well-rested and refreshed. "I slept great."

"Oddly so did I, despite your snoring."

"I do not. . ." she began but Alek was sitting up, combing his hand through his hair. She noticed the bandage and remembered what had happened last night. She reached for his arm. "Let me see your arm."

"It's fine," he said, but obediently held out his arm to her.

She gently pulled back the bandage and was surprised to see that not only had the wound closed up, the scar was starting to fade. She ran her thumb along the fading scar, shaking her head. "That's really amazing how we can do that."

"Comes in handy."

She absently rubbed his arm, feeling the fading scar and the soft, short hairs of his arm underneath her fingertips. A thought suddenly occurred to her and she looked at hm questioningly. "Weren't you worried that I would freak out during another nightmare and claw you?"

"No," he said simply.

She felt her heart lift a little at this, as it indicated that Alek, despite what he had said to her, did trust her to an extent. He trusted her physically, if not emotionally. He probably also thought he could handle whatever she threw at him physically, but she was going to take whatever she could chip off that wall of his.

Just then she felt her stomach rumbled and she remembered that they were completely off-schedule. "We missed mythology studies. And breakfast."

"I think I'm more broken up about missing breakfast."

"You don't like mythology studies?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you even have mythology studies or are you in super secret training?"

"Yes, I do, but if my super secret training as you put it conflicts with it, I go to training."

She could see that he was waiting for her to probe him on the training but Chloe decided that she was going to let him tell her on his own time. That if he wanted to be a little secretive, then she had to let him. She didn't exactly have the right to demand that he confide in her about everything when she hadn't been able to do that with the whole Brian thing. Trust was actually a two-way street so she was going to trust him and let him tell her when he was ready.

"Well, I like mythology studies," she said, getting up and tying her hair back into a loose knot at the nape of her neck. "I hope I don't get in trouble for missing it."

Alek was looking at her curiously. "You like mythology studies?"

"What?"

He shrugged. "You've just been rather resistant to the whole Mai thing."

"I know," she said softly. "But I figured I need to learn these things. It's a part of who I am." She met his eyes. 'It's a part of who you are."

Alek's eyes gleamed with some emotion that she couldn't quite read before he got up, heading for the door. "Let's go see what we can scavenge for breakfast in the dining hall and then we'll crash a mythology session together, O.K?"

#

Chloe and Alek spent most of the day together. After getting dressed, they went to the dining hall and managed to find some cereal and milk for breakfast. Then they headed for mythology studies. Their incredibly late arrival earned them a peevish look from their instructor, but otherwise, it was fine. She got to learn more about the history of the Egyptian Mai, how they got along with humans, and even served humans, which made her feel better, like she didn't actually have to choose between her human and Mai selves, that they could both co-exist.

After the truncated mythology session, she and Alek had a carefree, fun lunch together and were even joined by a few other Mai, who had only spoken to her in passing. Having Alek there was apparently an ice-breaker and Chloe realized that for all his prickliness, Alek was actually very outgoing when he wanted to be. It was also much easier for him to open up here, surrounded by fellow Mai, where he didn't' have to pretend about who he was, or what he was capable of.

Alek told her he had a special training session that afternoon and, sticking to her resolution not to push him on the details of these trainings until he was ready to tell her, had simply bid him good-bye and told him she'd meet up with him at dinner. She had gone to her room and had managed to reach her mother and seeing her mother, alive and well, on Skype was a tremendous relief. She also got an e-mail from Jasmine telling her that the Mai were indeed still watching over her mom and friends, and would continue to do so as long as things were in a "heightened state" with the Order.

She participated in the late afternoon training session before dinner and she couldn't help wondering what kind of training Alek would be undergoing. Surely he wouldn't be doing the type of sessions she was doing with Angelo so what exactly was he doing? Just because she promised herself to trust him and let him have his privacy didn't mean she wasn't curious. . .and curiosity did kill the cat.

Alek was late for dinner and looked a little worn out so whatever the training was, it was enough to run him down and she knew Alek had a lot of stamina. He did chase a car all the way to downtown San Francisco. For her.

She sighed softly, recalling how blind she had been about things, since she had been so fixated on Brian. The things she had missed, the things that had slipped out of her grasp.

"That's a very serious look you have on your face," Alek observed. He indicated her plate. "It's meatloaf, in case you're trying to figure it out."

She playfully shoved his shoulder. "I know what it is."

"So why the very serious expression?"

She shrugged. "Just thinking about things."

"Your nightmares?" he asked, lowering his voice since they were in the semi-full dining hall.

She shook her head. Today was the first day that she hadn't worried about those nightmares. The first day she hadn't been plagued by anxiety. Today was the first day she had felt peaceful and rested. . .normal, or as normal as she had ever felt after transforming into the Uniter. And it was because of Alek, because he had helped her sleep, had made her feel safe and protected, just like always. "Why do you put up with me? I mean, even at the beginning, I was pretty awful to you."

Alek was surprised by her question, glancing away and then down at his plate. She thought he was going to simply ignore the question but then he said quietly,

"Your whole life had been turned upside down. I figured you were entitled to act out every now and again." He shrugged. "Besides, I wasn't exactly easy on you."

She smiled, remembering some of their early training sessions. "No, you weren't."

"I knew you'd get it eventually."

"Very sure of yourself aren't you Mr. Petrov?"

"Only about some things," he replied, completely serious. She let her gaze linger on his face before it moved upwards, to his rich, brown eyes and that was where she saw it – the doubt and uncertainty. Of her.

"You can be sure of me," she said softly, but firmly, never letting her gaze waver. She could see the inner battle rage in his eyes and she decided to tip the scales in her favor a little. She leaned in closer so that their noses just barely touched. She could tell that his resolve was wavering, that he wanted to kiss her with the way his eyes kept flicking to her lips. His breathing had quickened and she focused enough to be able to tell that his heartbeat had picked up too. She looked at his own lips, so soft, so warm. . .she wanted that kiss too. It was like the world had faded into the background and it was just the two of them. She lifted a hand and softly trailing her fingers down his cheek. "Alek. . ."

Someone clearing their throat, loudly, jolted them out of it. She turned to find a Mai girl whose name she couldn't recall just then but who she knew was in her morning sessions standing by their table, looking like she'd rather be somewhere else. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but um, Angelo wanted to see you Chloe. As soon as possible." Not waiting for a response, the girl beat a hasty retreat.

Chloe frowned. She was pretty sure there were no sessions planned with Angelo for today. And honestly, after the last session with him, she wasn't all that keen about going to face him again.

"You okay?" Alek asked. He seemed to have recovered from their near-kiss, looking like nothing at all had almost happened between them.

Chloe tamped down her frustration. No one said getting Alek's trust back would be easy and he did have a very stubborn streak. "I didn't think I had to work with Angelo today."

"You don't sound too thrilled at the prospect."

"The last session was rough."

"Want me to go with you?"

"I don't think Angelo will let you stay." She stood up, taking her tray with her. "Some things the Uniter has to face alone."

#

"I must apologize."

Chloe blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected Angelo to say that. She had expected more yelling, exhausting meditation sessions (which was rather oxymoronic when she thought about it) or surprise attacks designed to scare the hell out of her. But an apology? Definitely not.

Angelo indicated that she should take a seat on the chair across from him. "The last session. . .I was too harsh on you." He bowed his head slightly. "Forgive me."

"Uh. . .sure."

"I know of the power inside of you and I was too impatient to see it. . .to have you tap into it. . .that I forgot that the power is not there for me. It is for you and you must learn to access it without fear or resentment or any other negative emotions."

"But you said fear is a trigger."

"Not the only trigger," Angelo responded with a smile.

"What are the other triggers?"

"Do you like being a Mai?" Angelo asked, catching her off-guard.

"Uh. . .yes, I guess."

Angelo chuckled. "That is perhaps not the . . .whole truth, _si_?"

"I. . ." Chloe sighed. "I miss being a normal teenager sometimes."

"Does it scare you. . .the fact that you're no longer human? That you can't be normal no matter how much you want to be?"

Chloe stared at Angelo, feeling so many things, but surprise was paramount. No one had ever asked her these questions before. "Yes," she whispered.

"Why?"

"I. . .feel. . ." She sighed, searching for a way to articulate her feelings. "Sometimes I feel alone and it scares me. I feel like being the Uniter means I'll never belong. . .to anything. That I'll always be alone. That maybe everyone I know and love will die before me or because of me."

Surprisingly, instead of feeling worse for having articulated these hidden fears, she actually felt better. It felt good to finally give a voice to those feelings and thoughts she had been having all these months.

Angelo nodded understandingly. "Is that why you resist tapping into your true power?" His eyes sought her. "Do you believe that if you fully commit to being the Uniter that it means you must leave everything and everyone else behind?" Angelo offered her a kind smile. "Perhaps this is why you continued to see the Order's human. . .despite the terrible risks?"

"Brian's not in the Order," Chloe protested, knowing that she was dodging Angelo's questions.

"Although that did not turn out as badly as you had thought."

She thought of how she had damaged her relationship with Alek, how things had to end with Brian anyway, and would have been much easier had she simply faced her feelings. "It's bad enough."

"Ahhh, yes. . .Alek." Angelo gave her a sly smile when she gasped in surprise. "There is not much that escapes me in my own training center." Chloe blushed which made Angelo chuckle. "Things have not improved between you two?"

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Alek said you assigned me my dorm room. But if you knew we were having problems. . ."

Angelo's face was the epitome of innocence but his eyes gleamed mischievously. "Sometimes the young needs a gentle push."

Chloe chuckled. "Humans would call that meddling."

Angelo turned his palms toward the ceiling. "Meddle? I do not meddle. I simply make things a little easier for you to communicate with Mr. Petrov, hmm?" Angelo grinned. "He is _muy terco_." He clarified. "Stubborn."

Chloe smiled. "He can be, yes."

Angelo steepled his fingers before he pressed them against his lips. "Do you fear tapping into that power inside of you?" She considered his question before she nodded. "Because you think it will make you fully Mai? Fully the Uniter?"

"Kind of."

Angelo reached out, placing a hand on top of hers. "Chloe, you are already fully Mai, already the Uniter. You don't have any choice in the matter." He squeezed her hand. "But you do have a choice about how to use the powers you have been given. How you will be the Uniter. Your destiny may be set, but nothing is written about how you fulfill that destiny, how you fulfill your role."

"I think you're wrong about that. The leadership seems to have very strong ideas about that."

"Screw them." Chloe gasped. Angelo shrugged. "They all want to control you, to serve their own agenda. I have seen the pushing and pulling and fighting." He waved his hands dismissively. "It is stupid. All of that over a young girl. Everyone wants to dictate, no one wants to help." He sighed. "It is why we were decimated, why we are still hunted." His eyes bore into hers. "No one asked you your opinion on any of this." Angelo looked at her intently. "What do you want Chloe King?"

_#_

Angelo's question stayed with her for the rest of the night, which turned out to be sleepless, for very different reasons than her nightmares. She didn't worry about them, didn't dread sleep but as she laid in bed, she couldn't quite relax to the point where her mind would just drift away.

She missed Alek.

Which was crazy because it had only been a few hours since she last saw him at dinner. But she wished he were with her, holding her hand, talking to her in that soothing way, making her feel safe and peaceful. She remembered not too long ago he had had half-jokingly, half-arrogantly told her that he could help her relax. Little did she know that he really could, and she was missing it tonight. A lot.

She tried listening to her own heartbeat but that had the effect of making her mind race with all sorts of questions, like why was her heartbeat so fast? Why wasn't it slowing down like she was trying to make it? Was that an irregular heartbeat or murmur, 'cause it sounded a little weird. Chloe groaned as she kicked off the blanket and sat up.

Sighing, she changed into some workout clothes and slipped into her flip flops. She tied her hair back into a low ponytail and then headed for the door. She had just closed her door and was about to turn down the hallway when she literally bumped into Alek. "Ooof!"

Alek lifted an eyebrow. "Going somewhere?"

"What are you doing?" He was dressed like she was, but there was a sheen of sweat across his forehead, like he was coming back from a workout instead of going to one like she had planned.

"Trouble sleeping again?"

"I'm not having a nightmare if that's what you think."

"Let me guess, you just have to see the latest informercial on the amazing new meatloaf pan."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess I'm not tired."

"The bags under your eyes say otherwise."

Her hands instantly went to her cheeks, pressing gently against the soft skin beneath her eyes. "I have eye bags now?"

He laughed. "Chloe, I thought we talked about this. You need to get some sleep."

"I slept fine last night."

"Once night every few weeks isn't going to cut it."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" she protested. "If I can't sleep, I can't sleep."

He looked at her for a beat before he glanced down the hall, in the direction of his dorm. "Give me ten minutes to shower and change and then I'll meet you in your dorm."

Her heart leapt at his words and she had to quell the desire to grin from ear to ear. Play it cool, she told herself. "What makes you think you'll help me fall asleep?"

"Are you saying you'd rather walk on a treadmill and watch those godawful infomercials instead?"

She considered the options. She could wear herself out physically and then collapse into an exhausted sleep, or she could be alone in her dorm with Alek, possibly lying next to him in her bed. "Ten minutes."

She gave Alek her room code and in ten minutes, she heard her door beep and then Alek walked in. He had changed into his sleep clothes – PJ bottoms and a tank. She had been sitting at her desk, playing Solitaire on her computer, which made Alek roll his eyes.

"What? It's a fun game."

"You don't get to kill anything."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Boys."

He grinned, coming over and sitting on the edge of her desk. "You know you're up way past your bedtime."

"Yeah, okay, Mom."

Alek chuckled but abruptly stopped. Chloe glanced up from her computer screen to find him staring at the collage of photos that she had tapped near the console above her desk. She found that it was motivating to see the faces of the people she cared about each morning as she went over her schedule of physical torture. Looking at pictures of her mom, Paul and Amy as well as various favorite haunts around San Francisco made the early physical exertion easier somehow because she knew that going back, she really was going to be able to help protect them. She followed Alek's sightline and realized that he was staring at the black-and-white pictures of them that had been taken in the photo booth at the San Francisco fair.

She realized that Alek hadn't really gotten a chance to see those pictures before since the last time he was here, he was either just waking up, or trying not to get his face clawed off by her. "That was a really great day."

Alek didn't say anything, staring at the picture with an inscrutable expression. She worried that he was thinking about what had happened shortly after that, her confused 'confession" of love for Brian with her mom, but then he smiled and said,

"Yeah, it was." He nodded his head toward her bed. "Come on, you need to get some sleep."

"What about you?"

"I will if you will," he returned with a mischievous smile.

"Alek."

"Come on, into to bed with you."

She put her computer into sleep mode and then climbed into bed. Alek waited until she had settled in before he turned out the light. She adjusted her vision and watched as he approached the bed. He stood there for long moments and she thought he was going to simply sit and hold her hand like the other night but pulled up the covers and said,

"Scoot over, you're hogging the bed." She was so surprised that she was rendered temporarily immobile. "Come on, play nice."

Her mind finally kick started and she shifted over enough for Alek to climb in. The bed depressed with his weight and then she felt the warmth of his body curling up against her. She shifted, flipping over to her side, giving him even more room and to her surprise but delight, she felt Alek curve his body against her back, effectively spooning her. One of his arms went around her abdomen, his long fingers splayed against the thin fabric of her sleep camisole.

She could feel his breath against her ear, the soft rise and fall of his chest against her back. She sighed softly, relishing the moment. Sure things were still unresolved between them, and she was nowhere near conquering her inner demons but in that moment, everything was perfect. Alek was lying next to her, and it didn't take much for her to pretend that he was really with her.

"Good night, Alek," she whispered.

She felt him smile against her hair. "'Night, Chloe." She closed her eyes, focusing on his heartbeat, feeling that familiar lull in body and mind that usually preceded sleep. "Chloe?"

"Hmmm?" she murmured.

"You know this doesn't really change anything." She turned her head so that his lips were right at her ear. "We're just sleeping together."


	9. Chapter 9

I know it's been a while between updates but things got busy for me and doesn't look like it'll let up any time soon so expect longer times between updates - sorry! Although I will be wrapping this story up soon so you don't have to worry about me leaving you hanging.

Thanks for the continued love shown to this story.

Usual disclaimers.

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REDEMPTION - Ch. 9

When Chloe awoke the next morning, Alek was nowhere to be found, which was odd because it was Monday morning, which meant crack-of-dawn morning exercises, but as usual, Alek was off to parts unknown, yet didn't partake in the rigorous early morning routine. Chloe was actually getting used to these morning workouts, but she couldn't say that she'd miss them when she returned to San Francisco in two weeks.

Two weeks.

She wondered if that was enough time to turn things around with Alek. She still didn't know where she stood with him. Last night was great, again, one of the best, most peaceful sleeps she's had but she did wonder if he was just being his usual arrogant, cocky self by declaring that things hadn't changed, or if to him, things really hadn't changed. Or was he just trying to convince himself? Or her?

She sighed.

If she had known Alek would be this hard to crack, she'd. . .still do it. Nothing worth having is easy to get, she reminded herself. Resolutely, she told herself to stay the course and then went to get ready for the morning exercises.

As usual, the morning exercises were hard, but Chloe was getting better. She was no longer behind the pack, and not exactly in the front, but she kept up with the group and wasn't so winded at the end of it. And that high wall wasn't exactly easy to scale, but she could do it after a few tries now. She trudged back to her dorm to shower before heading to breakfast. As she checked her e-mail, she finally noticed the note that Alek had tucked under her laptop.

_At special training until lunch. I'll see you then. – A_

She was really curious about these training sessions of his and curiosity did kill the cat, but she resolved to let him have his space, to let him reveal things in his own time. She felt like they were getting closer and closer and while she could still feel the distance between them, it didn't seem as great as when she had first arrived here.

And despite what Alek said to her, his actions revealed otherwise. Things were changing between them, whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not. Even if they were just "sleeping together" in the most literal sense of the phrase, that was much more than they had ever done together, even when he didn't have trust issues with her.

Suddenly the console on her wall beeped. She pressed a button to see that she had a message from Angelo, requesting that she skip the training session after breakfast to meet with him instead. She sighed. She liked Angelo, but her sessions with him often left her emotionally drained and she never knew what to expect from them.

She quickly changed and went to breakfast, finding herself more welcomed among the group. Simon, the poor Mai who had tried to restrain her when she had freaked out in survival class and as a reward, had been rendered unconscious by her, was also at breakfast and Chloe finally had a chance to scratch another item off her "Piece of Cake To Do List." He was really sweet about it, jokingly telling her that getting kicked into the wall by the Uniter would be "badge of honor" in his tribe.

She didn't know if she felt better or worse when he revealed that in addition to a mild concussion, she had also cracked two of his ribs. He seemed to think they were great "battle wounds" but she felt awful about how badly she had hurt him. Although she was truly surprised by her strength since Simon was well over six feet and powerfully built, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. If she could control that source of power, she really could make a difference, with a lot of things.

Angelo seemed to be in good spirits when she joined him in his private office/living/training quarters. "So, have you thought about it?" he asked her after they had settled into his sitting area.

"It?" she repeated, puzzled.

"What it is you want."

Oh that. Of course he couldn't ask her an easier question like what the secret of the universe was, or something. She'd even settle for a mathematical theorem at this point. "I don't know." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be difficult or anything it's just. . ."

"It is not an easy question to answer," Angelo said, his voice understanding. "I, myself, want many things and that changes like the phases of the moon. Lately I seem to want a lot of sweets. It seems I am developing what is called a "sweet tooth."" Chloe laughed. "But I am asking you for more than physical cravings or desires and you are still very young, with so much responsibility thrust upon you. . ." Angelo smiled. "It is not an easy question."

"But, consider this," he continued. "Your power is there for you to use because you want to."

She shook her head. "I don't think so, otherwise I would be able to control it."

Angelo chuckled. "Want and desire is not the same as control. If we could control our desires, how much simpler would life be?" He winked at her. "How much more boring also, _si_?"

"But I do want to control my powers. . ."

"Yes, you do," Angelo agreed. "Rationally, you do. Consciously, you do. But in the deepest part of you, where it is pure instinct, pure desire. . .that is not about control, and that is where this power lies." Angelo nodded. "You must understand that in order to be able to access it, to find the trigger."

"But I. . ."

"Consider this," said Angelo, his index finger raised in the air. "When you scaled the high wall in the obstacle course, was it not because you truly, deeply desired to do so? To the point where you no longer wanted to think about it, but to simply do it? Likewise, in Mario's class, was it not your strong, almost irrational desire to not be bound which allowed you to tap into that power?"

"I thought it was fear."

"Fear is one of the triggers, but as we agreed, not the best trigger to use, _si?_" Chloe nodded. "Your desire, what you want, is how you control your powers. How you control your emotions. If you can learn to control those desires and emotions, so too you can control, and also trigger that power at will."

"I'm a sixteen year old girl and you want me to control my emotions?" Chloe snarked. "You've got your work cut out for you."

Angelo laughed. "I did not say it would be an easy undertaking."

"No, it's not."

Angelo smiled sympathetically. "It will get easier." He inclined his head, regarding her. "What do you want Chloe? If you had last wishes, knowing you'd have to trade in one of your lives and all that means for these desires, what would they be?"

"My mom and friends to be safe." Angelo nodded. "My life to have some semblance of normalcy. I mean I know my life's not really my own anymore and being the Uniter has responsibilities but I think I could deal with that if I could be normal at times too." Angelo nodded again. "And I really want. . ." She stopped abruptly, as a face flashed across her mind's eye.

"_Si?_" Angelo prompted her. Chloe sighed, then smiled, feeling like she had unlocked something within her and felt more alive because of it.

#

She found Alek in the dining room at lunch just like he had told her in his note. He looked a little run down, his work-out clothes dusty, as if he had gone for a run in the desert, which for all she knew, he could have. But she wasn't concerned about his super secret training just then. She had more important things to do.

She strode purposefully over to his table, where he was eating lunch and chatting with another male trainee that she didn't recognize. He gave her a small smile when he saw her. "I need to talk to you."

Alek blinked in surprise at the forcefulness behind her request. "Uh. . .here?"

She looked around the crowded dining hall. "We can do it here but it'd be better in private."

"I'm still eating."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What is it about teenage boys, either human or Mai, that made them so focused on food sometimes. You'd think they weren't fed for days on end. "It's important." Alek looked at her, the debate raging in his eyes. She sighed and sat down next to him. "OK, here will have to do." She smiled at the other male trainee before fixing her eyes back on Alek. "Alek, there's something I wanted to tell you and I'm just going to come out and say it. I know I hurt you before but I've done a lot of thinking and I realize that I. . ."

Alek was on his feet in the blink of an eye and his hand was on her elbow, tugging her up. "Private's good. Let's do private."

She grinned the entire walk back to her dorm room. She didn't bother to point out to him that it was her room so it was a mite bit presumptuous of him to enter the code and walk in like it was his, but she had far more important things on her mind.

"Chloe, what the hell are you doing?"

She didn't let the irritated tone of Alek's voice deter her. She had expected that from him. Besides, this was about going after what she wanted, because if she couldn't do this, how was she supposed to do what Angelo and the entire Mai population wanted her to?

She gave him a sweet smile. "I wanted to tell you something."

"Yes?" he asked, wary.

"I want you," she stated, her voice clear and strong. "And I want us to be together."

Alek didn't seem to react at all, but his eyes gave him away. His brown eyes were swirling with a myriad of emotions at her declaration.

"I want you," she repeated and smiled. The more she said it, the better it felt. The more it felt like a weight was lifting off of her, as if she had been pushing down these feelings and now she had taken the lid off and those feelings could finally be freed from inside of her and it felt good. Really, really good.

"Chloe. . ."

"I know that I hurt you and that you don't trust me and you need time to sort through that, but. . ." She inhaled, blew out the breath and smiled. "I wanted you to know where I stood. We've always had problems communicating. . ." Alek opened his mouth to say something and she cut him off. "Okay, I always had problems communicating how I felt, especially about you and I don't want to do that anymore."

She grinned, taking a few steps toward him. She was heartened to see that he didn't back away. "So I'll be clear now, in a way that leaves no doubt in your mind." She felt like she couldn't stop smiling, that her heart was swelling inside her chest. "I want to be with you Alek because you were right, we do belong together."

"Chloe. . ."

"And I want you to forgive me, and to trust me again and for us to go back to San Francisco and figure out how to be together because let's face it, we get on each other's nerves on a good day but even with that. . .I still want to be with you."

She sighed, not wanting to dredge this up, but knowing that she needed to."Remember when I was talking to my mom about Brian?" Alek grimaced and nodded. "I said I thought I was in love with him because I was confused. I was trying to hang on to some semblance of normalcy and that's what Brian was. . .he was human and normal and had normal, human problems." She chuckled deprecatingly. "Which in the end didn't turn out so normal, given his family but. . ." She sighed. "You were right, I was resistant to being Mai, to accepting all it meant to be the Uniter."

"And you're not anymore?"

"No, I'm still a little resistant," she answered honestly. "But at least I know it now. I know it's because I'm scared about what it means, what I might lose, who I might lose." She shook her head. "But Angelo's teaching me that embracing my role as the Uniter can help me deal with all that, that I might not have to lose anyone or anything. That there are actually things to be gained." She smiled. "He's the reason I'm telling you all of this."

Alek looked skeptical. "Angelo told you to blurt out your feelings for me in the dining hall?"

"Hey, I asked for some place private but you wanted to keep eating."

Alek sighed. "We can't do this."

"Do what?" she asked innocently as she took a few more steps towards him. This time he did back away

but she saw that he was backing into a wall so she kept advancing.

"Chloe," Alek protested as his back hit the wall.

"Hmmm?" she asked, finally closing the distance between them. She placed a hand against the wall, near his head, leaning in.

"You. . .we. . ."

She arched an eyebrow. "We are perfect for each other? We belong together?"

"No. We. . .this is. . ."

"This is how things should be?"

"Will you stop that?"

She laughed softly, reaching out and caressing his cheek softly with her fingers. He hadn't shaved that morning and though she couldn't quite see his blonde-brown whiskers, they tickled her fingers. "Alek. . ." She had grown completely serious and was looking him straight in the eyes. She felt him swallow but otherwise, he didn't respond. "I know you don't believe me, I know your heart won't let you. Not yet." She offered him a serene smile. "That's okay. I hurt you and I'm sorry. I really am. And I know it'll take a while for your heart to trust me and to open up again but. . ." She smiled at him brightly. "I have eight lives and by my count, that's seven more than you have so. . ." She leaned in, placing a soft, sweet kiss, full of promise against his lips. ". . .I can wait."

She met his eyes and she could see how much he wanted to pull her against him, but that will of his was indeed _muy terco_. She let her hand fall to his chest, to rest atop his heart, which she felt beating rapidly against her palm, belying his attempt to remain cool and aloof. "You saw what I did, how stubborn I was, for the wrong guy." She tapped his chest lightly. "Wait until you see what I will do for the right guy."


	10. Chapter 10

I was hoping the show would be renewed (or more episodes picked up) but with the ratings, I wasn't too surprised with the cancellation. I know many of you were disappointed - and I am too. I would have liked to have seen where things would go.

Thanks to those who sent me messages about the cancellation and even more so for those who think this story is actually good enough to give you some sense of closure on the show. I am incredibly flattered by that.

I WILL complete this series but please have patience re: updates. As i mentioned, things have become very busy for me so it's not that easy for me to update so regularly but I hate uncompleted stories as much as anyone so I will definitely wrap this story up.

Usual disclaimers apply.

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REDEMPTION - Chapter 10

Chloe knew that Alek wanted to avoid her as much as possible after her little confession. But she also knew that he couldn't act like it had affected him so much, otherwise, it would prove her right. So Alek was faced with a very difficult decision. Avoid her and prove her right, or act like what she had said had no effect on him and behave normally around her. Of course, if he was with her, that would give her all the more chances to drive home how much she cared about him, and she was hoping it would make her that much harder to resist.

Thankfully, Alek went with the prideful route, which meant he continued to spend time with her, giving her ample opportunity to turn on the PDA. Nothing overt to embarrass him in front of the other trainees, and nothing that was too blatant or which would make him uncomfortable. But she would loop her arm through his as they walked down the halls, or when she finished eating and he hadn't, which was pretty much always because Alek ate like every meal was his last, she'd lean against him, resting her head on his shoulder, laying a hand on his leg, or even rubbing his shoulder.

At first, Alek would stiffen at her touch, and she'd pull back a little but little by little, he yielded, until it started feeling natural, to the point where Alek had started to reciprocate. The other day, they were headed to dinner and Alek put his arm around her back, guiding her through the crowded dining hall and then kept his arm around her as they went through the line. She had been thrilled since that was the first casually affectionate contact that Alek had initiated between them.

Then there were the nights. Alek had maintained his distance, although he had checked up on her each night. Chloe didn't want to use her stress and trauma to manipulate him so she had told him that she was fine, which she was. . .until Thursday night. That had been a particularly stressful day, with intense training in the hot desert sun for most the day and sessions with Angelo that, while much better than the earlier ones, were still falling short in terms of her gaining control over her powers. Then her mom had been in a spectacularly interrogative mood that evening during their regularly scheduled Skype session, which meant that Chloe had to dig herself an even bigger hole with her mother by telling yet more lies.

That night, she had been restless, unable to get her mind to quiet enough for her to sleep, which was actually quite a change for her. Usually she was fighting sleep, but now she was fighting to get to sleep. At first she had thought about doing her usual routine of wearing herself out, but then she heard Angelo's voice in her head.

"_What do you want Chloe King?"_

And what she wanted was to be with Alek. There were reasons not to go but she didn't care at that moment. Just like there were always reasons she couldn't yet fully tap into her powers but they were unimportant to her desire. . .her need. . .to tap into them. Likewise, the reasons for not going to Alek didn't override her desire, her need, to be with him.

So she had summoned up her courage and had walked across the hall and knocked on his door. It was fairly late but not too late by Alek's bizarre sleep schedule so she wondered if he was even in his room or at training since those training sessions also had a very weird, very unpredictable timetable. She was about to abandon the idea, thinking he wasn't in his room when the door opened and a sleepy looking Alek, his hair adorably sticking out at odd angles on his head, squinted at her. He peered at her for a long moment before he inquired softly,

"Can't sleep?"

"I didn't mean to wake you."

Alek rubbed his eyes before he reached out, wrapping his hand around her wrist, tugging her gently into his room. "Come on, my bed's bigger."

And then it had been the easiest thing in the world for her to crawl into his still warm bed, turning onto her side as Alek climbed in after her and curling up against her, their preferred sleeping positions.

"Nightmare?" Alek whispered against her ear.

She shook her head, then gave him a condensed version of what was keeping her awake on yet another night. Alek, half-asleep, still managed to be incredibly sweet, telling her he knew it pained her to lie to her mom on a daily basis. They had laid awake in comfortable silence until Chloe had felt Alek drifting off to sleep, his heartbeat and breathing slowing and steadying over time. She felt her mind begin to quiet as she listened to these oddly comforting sounds and before she knew it, the alarm for morning exercises had blared.

To her surprise, Alek was still by her side, fast asleep, or at least he was trying to be again since no one, especially not someone "blessed" with super-hearing could have missed the klaxon-like morning alarm. Alek grunted and then rolled onto his back, draping an arm across his eyes.

"Alek?"

"Sleeping."

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"So do you," he returned. "It's very cute. Much cuter than the snoring."

"I do not do either," she protested. She sat up and tried to restore some order to her unruly mass of curls. "You're not going to morning exercises are you?" He shook his head. "Super secret training?" A hint of a smile crossed his lips but he shook his head. "Then what?"

He removed his arm from across his eyes and looked at her with an amused expression. "Why is it one or the other?"

She sighed impatiently. "What do you do in the mornings then?"

"Sleep."

"You get to sleep in?" she asked in disbelief.

He grinned. "I'm just that special."

"Liar."

"That's hurtful."

"Alek. . ."

He chuckled. "I get to sleep in most mornings because most of those super secret trainings run until late at night." He shrugged. "On some days, the trainings start much earlier since cover of darkness tends to be an element of the trainings."

That was the most he had told her about his trainings and she wanted to ask him so many questions but she stuck to her resolution to let him tell her what he wanted, when he wanted. She shook her head. "I'm the Uniter and I can't even sleep in."

"Like I said, I'm just that special."

"You are," she returned, completely serious. She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for last night."

His eyes held her gaze before they darted to her lips and she smiled beguilingly at him, letting him know that if he wanted, she was more than willing. She could see that inner battle in his eyes, even in the dim pale light of the slowly rising sun. He reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand, his fingers caressing her jaw. She saw his resolve waver, but he didn't do more than caress her face, but even that was progress to her so she enjoyed it, enjoyed his touch, enjoyed this quiet, sweet moment of intimacy between them. "You're going to be late," Alek finally whispered.

She chuckled softly. "You are so loving the fact that I have to go bust my ass while you get to go back to sleep aren't you?"

"Very much so."

She gently slapped his shoulder before she climbed out of his bed and headed for the door. "Meet me at breakfast?"

Alek's eyes had closed again but his response was instantaneous. "Of course."

#

She and Alek only saw each other during meals that day because as it happened, he was in training while she had a free period and she was with Angelo when Alek was free. Their schedules weren't quite syncing today but at least they had their meals together and Chloe made the most of it. The last time she had seen Alek, they had had a nice lunch together, sitting off by themselves in the corner of the lunch room and talking about mundane, ordinary things.

During their lunch, Chloe realized that her desire to be with Brian because of the "normalcy" that he represented had been false because she could be a normal girl having lunch with the guy that she liked just as well, if not better, with Alek. Here, in the secret training complex for the Mai, she and Alek were debating the best movies of the year like any other teenagers. They were complaining about the cafeteria food, and teasing each other. Just like any other teenagers.

But even better, she and Alek understood the pressures they each faced, unlike any other teenager. They understood the dangers and risks and Alek certainly understood the stress she was facing. If she was really honest with herself, she couldn't ever do that with Brian. . .not even now, when he knew her secret. With his father as a top figure in the Order, there would always be barriers for them in terms of communication. And honestly, she and Brian were never really good at communicating in the first place. She had lied a lot and he talked mostly about himself. Not really the stuff of great relationships.

When Alek had gone to get seconds, she had spied Simon across the cafeteria and still feeling bad about how she had injured him, she had walked over to chat with him briefly. She was surprised to learn that Simon was leaving that night, although in reality, she was finding out that the complex was often busier during the summer months when the Mai didn't have "human obligations" like school or family to hinder their schedules. Angelo had told her that in the fall and winter months, the number of trainees diminished quite a bit. Like her, many of the trainees here had only signed on for a limited time. She wondered when Alek was returning to San Francisco and made a mental note to ask him soon.

"Again, I'm really, really sorry about the whole "knocked you unconscious, gave you a concussion and cracked some ribs" thing."

Simon laughed. "I dare you to find a Hallmark card that says that."

"If I do, I'm sending it to you," she said, laughing. "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, you, too." He said, giving her a big smile. "I mean that since you're the Uniter and all."

Chloe returned his smile and then reached up to give him a hug. When she turned to head back to her table, she found Alek standing by it, a stony expression on his face. Wordlessly, he headed for the door. Chloe frowned. "Alek?" He was out the door quick but she was quicker. How she was quicker, she didn't know but she didn't want him to leave like that and had this compelling desire to catch up to him. Next thing she knew, she was running up to him, grabbing his elbow. "Alek!"

"I thought you were busy," he said, pointing his chin toward the cafeteria. "Making friends."

"Simon?" She furrowed her brows. "I was saying good-bye. He's leaving tonight and I figured I should at least do that considering I kicked the crap out of him and all."

"That's it?"

"What else is there?" she asked before the realization hit. "Oh my God. . .did you think he and I were. . .?"

"You looked pretty chummy."

"Simon? Me and Simon?" She laughed incredulously. "You should know better than that."

"Should I?" he returned, deadly serious.

"Yes," she said simply. "I already told you. . .you're the only one I want." She tapped her index finger against his forehead. "Get it through this thick, stubborn, but incredibly cute head of yours already." Alek visibly relaxed at her words and the faintest hint of a smile curled his lips. She gave him a teasing smile as she loped an arm through his, steering them both down the hall again. "You're very cute when you're jealous and not being subtle about it."

"I was not jealous," he denied, a little too quickly and vehemently.

Chloe smiled like a Cheshire cat. "Sure you weren't. You were just upset because the cafeteria didn't have any more biscuits."

"As a matter of fact. . ."

"You were jealous," she said in a sing-song voice as she separated from him, walking backwards down the hall. "Admit it."

"Chloe. . ."

"You were so jealous," she continued to tease him.

"You've been warned. . ."

"Or what?" she taunted.

"Try it and find out," Alek's eyes glinted as he licked his lips. She felt her pulse kick up at his action and she really wanted to see what he would do to her. Damn if she didn't look forward to it.

"You were totally, completely and utterly jealous." She enunciated each word carefully and before she finished the last word, Alek made a grab for her. She let out a small cry before she bolted, heading for her dorm. If anyone thought it was odd that she was being chased through the halls by Alek, no one thought much of it. She managed to get just enough of a lead on him to make it to her dorm room and punch in the code.

It was only when she slammed the door in triumph that her sense of victory quickly deflated as she heard the distinct beeping of a code being entered into her keypad and she realized too late that Alek had her room code so this probably wasn't the best place to hide away from him. She managed to back away enough from the door just as Alek opened it, striding in with a victorious smile.

"That is not fair," she protested. "You are not allowed to use my room code if I'm hiding from you in here."

He laughed, advancing on her which made her back away. "You can always change the code."

"I can?" she asked. "How?"

He laughed again. "And I'm gonna tell you that. . .why?"

"Meanie."

"I believe you owe me penance. . ." Alek said, moving so quick she could only leap out of the way, but Alek still managed to grab an arm as he scrambled past, which caused both of them to tumble backwards. Luckily for them, her bed broke their fall and they collapsed onto it, with Chloe sprawled across Alek's chest, her face ending up right on top of his.

And just like that. . .things turned serious. Chloe stared into the dark brown depths of Alek's eyes and felt this overwhelming desire to just throw caution to the wind. Just for once, she didn't want to worry about scaring him away, just wanted to be with him, to show him how much he meant to her.

She lightly traced his lips with her index finger before she leaned down and kissed him, fully. She thought Alek would pull away but to her surprise and delight, he kissed her back, tentatively at first but then with more ardor until their lips were dueling with each other, each trying to gain dominance. She could feel herself getting lost in the kiss when Alek suddenly pulled away.

An intense wave of disappointment washed over her but she forced herself to meet his eyes. To her surprise, she saw not doubt, but desire, unbridled desire in his eyes. He stared at her for what seemed an eternity, until he cupped her face with his hands and muttered,

"Oh, to hell with it. . ."

And then he pulled her against him and kissed her. Chloe always said that Alek was a great kisser but he must have been holding back in those previous kisses because this kiss literally made her light-headed. The way his lips firmly captured hers, pressing and sliding against them before his tongue gently licked them, seeking entrance, which she granted eagerly. And then his tongue. . .oh, his tongue. . .was doing the most incredible things, things that sent delightful little shivers throughout her body, that made her toes literally curl.

She moaned softly, opening her mouth even wider, kissing him back even more eagerly. His tongue danced agilely, teasingly with hers, touching and then darting away, making that spot, deep beneath her belly button kick to life, burning as hot and as quick as a wildfire. And soon, her whole body was on fire, every nerve ending lit up like it was Christmas and the 4th of July all at once.

"Alek. . ." she breathed against his mouth, sucking in some much needed air.

"Mmmm," he murmured, trailing little kisses down her cheek and neck. She shivered when he nipped the sensitive skin of her neck and she outright moaned in pleasure when he licked, then sucked, her pulse point.

Her hand wove its way underneath his shirt, seeking his naked skin, which she thrilled in touching, caressing. She ran her hand up his chest, feeling his muscles tense in response. His skin was warm and smooth and she let her fingers run over the ridges and planes of his well-defined muscles, enjoying the feel of him. She could feel his skin pulse beneath her hand, feel his heart racing when she rested her hand above it. His breathing had grown ragged and he was looking at her with heavily lidded eyes. It thrilled her to see the effect she had on him. Alek might deny his feelings for her but his body couldn't lie about how much she could affect it.

Chloe allowed herself to take in the sight of him, sprawled on her bed, hair tousled, lips wet and reddish from their frenzied kisses, T-shirt pulled up his chest, his face expressing pure desire for her. It was a sight to behold and she took a mental snapshot of it.

Just as she was about to lean down to kiss him again, the console on her wall beeped loudly. She closed her eyes and groaned.

Not now.

"What?" Alek asked, his eyes going to the console.

"It's a message. Probably from Angelo."

"Ignore it."

She really, really wanted to. She really, desperately wanted to get back to what she and Alek had been doing just seconds ago, and the sight of his taut, chiseled chest and abs was making it damn hard for her to think about anything but pinning him to the bed and kissing him until they were both senseless. But Chloe knew she couldn't ignore the message, especially if it was from Angelo. She sighed in resignation and reluctantly pushed herself off of Alek, walking to the console. "If I do, he'll just send someone. You know Angelo." Alek grunted and flopped down on the bed. She couldn't help smiling at how disappointed he looked.

Yeah, I know how you feel, she thought as she pressed the button. The message, however, wasn't from Angelo, but Mario, the survival training instructor whose wrist she had broken and the message wasn't just for her but for all the trainees. "Alek. . ."


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you all for the amazing support on this story. Here's the next installment. . .which is very near the end. I'm thinking there's 3-4 more chapters before i wrap it all up.

Usual disclaimers about not owning anything.

#

REDEMPTION - Ch. 11

"What's going on?" Chloe asked Alek as they walked out to the track field. The desert sky was darkening and Chloe knew that out here, in the desert with no artificial light, it would get pitch black very quickly.

Alek looked around at the other trainees, in fact, all the trainees still left at the center and shrugged. "No clue."

"What?" She feigned shock. "I thought you were so special and all around here."

"And you're the Uniter," Alek returned.

"Touche," she acknowledged, nudging him playfully with her shoulder. Alek grinned before he looped an arm casually around her shoulder and steered her toward a cluster of trainees who all had puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Hello everyone," Mario called, drawing all of their attention to the middle of the track field. He wasn't speaking very loud but then, he didn't really need to since they were all equipped with super hearing. Mario's wrist was healing much faster than a normal break, and he was now in a soft cast, as opposed to a hard, plaster one. "I'll bet you're all wondering what you're doing out here."

There was a general murmur of agreement which caused Mario to chuckle. "Well, I was talking to Angelo and we thought that since most of you will be leaving us in the next few weeks, we'd thought we'd have a little. . .competition." Mario rubbed his hands together. "To test your skills and abilities, as well as to see what you've learned while here."

Another wave of murmuring went through the group of trainees, and this one had a distinct sound of excitement to it. Chloe was excited, if a bit wary about what to expect. Since she didn't quite have a handle on her powers yet, she wasn't really one for surprises.

Mario reached behind him, producing two bags. "But because you're all oh-so-special, there will of course, be some. . .challenges."

Chloe groaned softly, but loud enough for Alek to pick up. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Partner up!" Mario commanded.

She and Alek didn't even need to talk about it, and everyone else assumed the same thing as no one approached them. They didn't even move, standing there watching as the other trainees talked and negotiated partnerships. There was never really any question at that point – if given a choice, they'd choose each other.

Once the trainees had effectively partnered up, Mario pulled out something from the first bag which in the dim light, Chloe could still see was a blindfold. He then reached for the second bag and pulled out what looked like ear buds you'd wear when listening to an iPod or mp3 player, but Chloe seriously doubted they were out here for music appreciation time. They were much bigger, with a loop attached to the inner ear piece, which Chloe assumed was used to secure them tightly to the ears by looping them over the top of the ear after the ear buds had been inserted into the ear canal.

Mario indicated the two items in his hand. "One person will be blindfolded, and the other one will be wearing these which are made of the same materials we used to soundproof your rooms. In other words, you will be blinded and deafened and need to really work as a team to achieve your objective."

"And your objective is this," continued Mario, producing a square patch of fabric that she could only see because he was waving it around and it would every so often, reflect some of the dim moonlight. "Be the first team to find this flag. It's hidden somewhere out here. All I will say is, it's not beyond the fence, and definitely somewhere out here."

"As for the rules, it's simple. . .find the flag, get it and then. . ." Mario paused as his eyes gleamed with amusement. "Bring it to me over by the guard's tower."

There was a ripple of doubt among the trainees which cause Mario to laugh softly. "I guess I have trained you well. Yes, there is a catch and the catch is this. . .it doesn't matter if you find the flag. What matters is who ultimately brings it to me." He paused to let the implication sink in. "You can prevent the others from getting to it by any fair means necessary. And you can certainly steal it from the team who finds it. Again, fairly. No dirty fighting, no dirty tricks. Otherwise, it's everyone for themselves." Mario raised a finger. "Oh I should clarify that both team members need to bring me the flag so no abandoning each other." A general grumble went through the group as tactics had to be altered in light of this new piece of information.

Personally Chloe never had any intention of abandoning Alek, so this new rule didn't really alter her game plan. She was pretty sure that Alek wouldn't have abandoned her either and a glance at his profile told her as much as his expression remained neutral and focused, which meant that the new information didn't really matter to him. She smiled, glad to see that she could still judge some things about Alek correctly.

Mario indicated the bags. "5 minutes to get yourselves ready and then you can take your position anywhere you want. You can also use that time to try and suss out the flag. A whistle will blow and then. . .go for it."

"I'll be blind," Alek said without preamble.

"What?" she asked. "What makes you think my vision is better than yours?"

He grinned. "I don't. I just think my hearing is better tuned than yours, unless you've been practicing that."

She had to admit that she hadn't, and in this environment, it wasn't really the time to test it out. "Fine. I'll be deaf."

As they walked toward the bags to wait retrieve their ear buds and blindfolds, Alek very casually but deliberately scanned the area around them. She followed his lead but she honestly couldn't see anything. Even with cat night vision, it was still almost pitch black out and they were looking for a little black flag. It was like blindly looking for a yellow needle in a haystack. And then to top it off, they'd have to defend that needle for however long it took to get it to Mario. Another piece of cake kind of thing, she thought.

She helped Alek secure the blindfold around his head. "We probably can't come up with some kind of code in the next two minutes can we?"

Alek grinned. "Just talk like you do in your sleep."

"I do not. . ."

"Chloe," Alek said. "Focus."

She sighed, placing the ear buds into her ears and then looping the ends over her ear. Instantly her world went silent. "Alek?" He turned his head to her. "We'll be okay right?" She scanned the grounds. All the trainees were scattered across the track field in various positions. She did well in training and when she could connect to that inner power of hers, she apparently could kick some serious ass but in this kind of atmosphere, against equally super-charged Mai. . .she had never done anything like this before and she was nervous, more than a little. As if sensing her nervousness, Alek reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Chloe inhaled and did as Alek had instructed. Focusing, she scanned the grounds trying to locate the flag but no luck. Suddenly, Alek tensed and then all the trainees suddenly started running around. She guessed that the whistle had sounded, commencing the competition.

"Alek?" He squeezed her hand to let her know he could hear her. "Run or stay?"Alek held up his hand, indicating they should stay. Then he held up two fingers to his blindfolded eyes before he moved those fingers into a wide arc around him. "Yeah, I'm looking for it. Nothing so far." She scanned the area again and again came up empty. She decided to try a new tactic and looked at the trainees, many of them running in an odd tandem as the sighted partner could run much faster and with more assurance than the blinded one. None of the trainees were moving with the kind of focus that would indicate they had located the flag so Chloe alternated between scanning the area for the flag and keeping her eyes on her fellow trainees.

Suddenly Alek gripped her shoulders and whirled her around just in time for her to see a trainee running for her. Reflexively, she braced herself into a defensive position just as the trainee began to attack. "What the hell? I don't even have the damn flag!"

Chloe fought off the trainee while trying to keep an eye on Alek, knowing that he was incredibly vulnerable in his blinded state. The trainee she was fighting had been deafened like her so they were evening matched, even though the trainee was a big, muscular guy. After a few blows that were blocked, the trainee managed to land a blow against her shoulder, knocking her against Alek, sending them both crashing.

Chloe cursed as she kicked out her leg to prevent the trainee from coming in and delivering a finishing blow. Sending him reeling just enough to pull herself to her feet, she thrust her hand out while bracing herself into a defensive stance. "Alek, grab my hand, 2 o'clock!" In the next instant, she felt Alek's grip on her wrist. She saw the trainee advancing and gauging the distance, she decided to take the chance. "I've had quite enough of this jerk. Just run and then kick your leg when I say so, OK?" Not even waiting for a response, she whirled, gripped Alek's arm with both hands and then swung him with all her might. "Run!" As she instructed, Alek started running and then she judged the distance between him and the attacking trainee before she yelled,

"Sidekick!" Alek did a small jump then kicked out his free leg. Her timing was impeccable. Alek's leg hit the trainee square in the chest, sending him flying across the field, where he landed, hard. He looked like the wind was kicked out of him, staying down to catch his breath.

"Nice shot," she told Alek, who grinned. "Why the hell was he attacking us anyway?" She gripped Alek's hand tightly, beginning her scan again. "Any other attackers?" Alek shook his head and with his other hand, pointed to his ear, and then her, signaling that he would warn her if there were.

"Flag, flag, flag," Chloe muttered. "Want, want, want." Alek squeezed her hand to get her attention. He made a face and she sighed. "Just go with it."

She closed her eyes, going into meditation mode as Angelo had been teaching her, clearing her mind of everything, trusting that Alek would provide enough protection for the little while that she was both deaf and blind. When she opened her eyes again, she was completely focused and she could feel that surge of power within her, nearly within grasp.

She systematically scanned the area again, her night vision seemed to be keener. As she looked over everything as closely as possible, she could feel Alek besides her, his hand comforting against her own. Knowing he would protect her even in his compromised state, which gave her the peace of mind she needed to know that she could take her time to do a thorough job of scanning the area.

Just as she was going over the obstacle course, her eyes caught sight of something that made her pause. Focusing her vision even more, she zeroed in on the high wall, her once-dreaded nemesis. At first she wasn't sure but then a whisper of a breeze lifted the edges of it just enough to let her see it better. Hanging limply against the wall, it was almost perfectly hidden, a dark sheath of fabric against a dark block of wood on a pitch black, cloudy night. But that breeze had lifted the edge of the flag just enough for her to glimpse it.

"Of course," she muttered. Alek turned to her. "I. . ." she was about to blurt it out when she realized that half of the people out there also had super hearing. She hesitated, thinking of a way to tell him without telling everyone else. "It's where I hurt my shoulder."

Alek's face furrowed with confusion before he deciphered her meaning. Then he gestured with his hand, asking her which direction they should go. She scanned the area, and determined the route to take that would best avoid most of the trainees, many of who were still either running around like headless chickens, or the same thing she and Alek had been doing. She knew mayhem would erupt when the sighted trainees caught her scaling the wall.

Of course the wall was also one of the farthest point in terms of where the guard tower was located. Getting the flag to Mario would be no easy feat once they retrieved it.

She squeezed Alek's hand. "Ready?" He nodded. She inhaled and then took off running. She could feel Alek keeping up, a bit clumsily behind her, but his movements were strong and assured. She could see a few trainees looking at her and Alek running for the wall and she knew they had one shot to grab the flag off the wall. Anything more than that and it would be a free for all.

When they were within a few feet of the wall, Chloe stopped. She tugged Alek's shirt so that he bent down enough for her to whisper into his ear. After she was done, she positioned him and then backed away from him enough to get a running start. "Ready?" she called. Alek crouched in response and the Chloe took off running, knowing they had attracted attention by now. When she was close enough, she called out to Alek and he held out his clasped hands in front of him, which she placed a foot in and then Alek launched her upwards. Chloe did a somersault and then landed in a perfect crouch pose on the top of the wall. "Yes!" She saw Alek turn to the sound of her voice but with time of the essence, she quickly moved to the edge of the wall and snatched the flag off of it. She stuffed the fabric down her shirt and then seeing that the other trainees were closing in, she flipped off the wall and headed for Alek.

She had almost reached him when she was tackled from behind. She hit the ground, hard and was momentarily stunned. She regained her senses rather quickly when she felt hands groping her shirt. "What the fuck?" she screamed and began swinging at the person on top of her. "Get off of me!" she yelled repeatedly.

The next thing she knew, the person went flying and Alek, blindfolded but looking incredibly fierce was looming over her. He reached a hand blindly for her and she quickly got up, grabbing it. "How'd you know that wasn't me you just sent flying?"

Alek's only response was a smirk. Chloe didn't have time to respond because she could see at least five trainees, the sighted ones, racing for them. Their blind compatriots were nowhere to be seen so Chloe figured they all had the same tactic – steal the flag from her and Alek and then meet up with their blind partners for that race to the guard's tower.

"Over my dead body," she muttered as she gripped Alek's hand tightly and took off running. The tower seemed an impossibly long distance away. "Alek, three o'clock, jab!" Alek responded to her command and nailed the trainee dead in the nose. Since he was deafened like her, he had no idea she gave the command and thus, didn't see that coming at all.

She smiled. These trainees might be able to see, but like her, they couldn't hear either and they were all without their ears, while she still had hers. And her "ears" could fight back.

She and Alek continued running and were halfway to the tower when she felt Alek jerk away. She turned to find him pinned under a female trainee who she was pretty sure Alek could take, but since he was blind and couldn't see her blows, he was struggling.

"Alek!" Chloe ran for him but suddenly felt strong arms grip her from behind. She struggled but the hold on her was strong. Knowing it would expend precious energy if she kept struggling like this, she instead focused on Alek.

"Alek, block with your left arm!" Chloe almost cheered when Alek's arm shot up and not only blocked the blow, it managed to hit his attacker across the chin, sending her sprawling backwards. Alek instinctively kicked out his knees, throwing the girl off of him completely. "Kick out your right leg!" Alek did as instructed, catching the girl straight in the gut and sending her sprawling across the field.

"Mind helping me here?" Chloe called. "This guy's got me in a lock from behind. If I swing him toward you can you just kick him?" Alek nodded and was already closing in on her voice. "Five. . .four. . .three. . .two. . ." Chloe drew in a deep breath and then gathering all her strength, she bent her knees and then lifted and swung her captor toward Alek. "One!"

There was a jolt and then her attacker released his vise-like grip on her. When she looked around, she found him laying on the ground, gripping his head, Alek standing nearby, poised for another attack. "You kicked him in the head." She winced. "Guess we misjudged that."

Alek shrugged and was about to gesture with his hands when she saw a trainee racing up behind him. "Alek, duck!" Alek smoothly dropped to the ground just as Chloe launched herself over him, flying straight at the trainee whose eyes widened seconds before Chloe's foot made contact with her shoulder. The trainee grimaced in pain and dropped to the ground.

"Okay, I've had about enough of this," Chloe said, grabbing Alek's hand and running for the tower. "We are getting to that damn tower!"

She could feel herself speeding up without really being aware of the fact that she was running faster, as if some force was propelling her forward. She tightened her grip on Alek's hand, not wanting to have him fall but she felt him right behind her, a little uncertain in his footing but maintaining their speed easily.

Just as they were a few feet from the tower and she could see Mario's smiling face, someone kicked her knees out, sending her. . .and Alek. . .skidding across the ground. The next thing she knew, someone straddled her, pinning her shoulders into the ground. She looked around and saw that unlike the other attackers, this team had attacked in tandem. Alek was a few yards away, facing the sighted partner to the Mai who had her pinned to the ground.

She looked up at the person atop of her and could see that he was just holding her there until his partner had dispatched Alek and then the two of them would retrieve the flag from her and run a few feet to victory. It was a masterful plan, but it also pissed Chloe off because she and Alek had worked damn hard to get this far.

She suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to win this competition. She had wanted to win it before but now it was like this. . .urge. . .this indescribable, ferocious desire. She felt that inner power in her begin to swell within her but like before, it was just slightly out of reach. She grunted, struggling against the Mai on top of her but he had at least fifty pounds on her and seemed intractable.

She angled her head and saw that Alek was not faring well. He was putting up a brave fight but clearly no match for his sighted adversary, who was getting in blow after blow. She watched with horror as the girl executed a perfect roundhouse kick that connected with Alek's jaw. Blood spurted out of his mouth as he fell face first into the ground. "Alek!" Chloe screamed.

And then somehow, she was free. . .her attacker on the ground in front of her, swiveling his head in confusion. "Sorry," she muttered before she landed a high kick across his head, knocking him out.

She whirled on his partner, who looked surprised that she had managed to free herself. "You little bitch," she cried, her eyes darting to Alek's prone figure, lying face down on the ground. The girl looked surprised, by what Chloe didn't know because she couldn't have possibly heard her. Chloe didn't dwell on it, however, advancing on the girl and then in lightning quick moves, sent the girl flying across the field.

"Alek!" Chloe raced to his side, flipping him over.

He was still conscious, but there was a trickle of blood from his mouth and his face was contorted in pain. "Come on, this is almost over." And then with strength she didn't know she possessed, she hoisted Alek up, slung his arm across her shoulder and practically dragged him to Mario. She gently eased Alek to the ground at Mario's feet before she reached under her shirt and produced the flag.

She didn't even bother to wait for Mario's reaction, yanking the ear buds out. A tsunami of noise hit her but she ignored it, her attention focused on Alek, who was still lying on the ground, trying to catch his breath. She carefully helped him into a sitting position and gently removed his blindfold. Just as she did so, the outdoor lights came on and a loud buzzer sounded.

But she didn't care about any of that, her eyes glued to Alek who was staring at her with an expression that was a mixture of surprise and pride. "Are you okay?" she asked, worried.

He grimaced slightly, touching his bruised jaw. "I've been better."

". . .nicely played everyone," Mario was saying. "And congratulations to the team of King and Petrov. Very well done you two."

"Indeed it was," said Angelo emerging from the shadows behind Mario. "That was most impressive." Angelo cast a concerned expression toward Alek. "Alek. . .I trust you are not seriously injured."

Alek shook his head. "I'll be alright." He indicated that he wanted to stand so Chloe backed up enough to give him room but she remained by his side, still worried about him. Alek offered her a small smile before he turned his attention to Mario. Chloe reluctantly peeled her eyes away from Alek's bruised, bleeding face and noticed for the first time the trainees gathered around them. Some of them looked a little worse for wear and she knew that she and Alek were responsible for some of that.

"Can anyone tell me why Petrov and King won this one?" The group of trainees mumbled a few half-hearted responses which caused Mario to frown. "They won because they did what they were supposed to do. . .work as a team." Mario cast a rebuking look at the trainees. "I was disappointed to see so many of you separating from your partners. You were down a sense each. . .you needed each other. . .and yet you decided to abandon each other."

He indicated Chloe and Alek. "If any of you were paying attention, you would have seen Ms. King and Mr. Petrov working together. Ms. King used her eyes for both of them and likewise, Mr. Petrov was the partnership's ears. . .it is how they avoided attacks and defended themselves effectively." Mario folded his arms across his chest. "Now I know what we need to focus on in survival training."

Angelo chuckled softly. "Perhaps we should let the trainees rest a bit before taking them to task, _si?"_ Angelo gestured in the direction of Alek and Chloe. "You did not announce the winners' reward."

Mario cast one last disapproving look at the trainees before his expression softened. He turned to them and smiled before he said,

"You guys get a week off from morning exercises."

Chloe let out a happy shriek and threw her arms around Alek, who laughed before he wrapped his arms around her and then swung her around. She barely heard the jealous rumblings from the group of trainees, feeling this blanket of pure, genuine happiness wrap itself around her. A few months ago, when she had first transformed, she didn't think it would be possible to feel this kind of happiness again but here she was, surrounded by Mai, after taking more than a few physical beatings, and standing in the middle of the California desert and she could honestly say that, in that moment, she was totally and completely happy.


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all for the continued support of this story. I really will finish it. It'll just take a while so. . .patience. :)

Also. . .thanks for the funny, creative reviews. . .they just put a smile on my face, which never hurts in terms of motivating me to write.

Usual disclaimers apply.

#

REDEMPTION - Chapter 12

"Are you sure that doesn't hurt?"

Alek shook his head. "It's fine." He tried to move away from her but she held firm, pressing the cold compress against his jaw.

"Stop that," she commanded.

He sighed then stilled. "When I imagined us playing nursemaid, you weren't quite so tyrannical."

She laughed. "I am so not going there."

He gently wrapped a hand around her wrist and then slowly pulled her hand away from his face. She was glad to see that the swelling had gone down. "See? All better."

She looked at the reddish-blue stain that marred his jaw. It was turning a greenish-purple shade now and looked like it hurt. She traced it with her index finger, recalling how Alek, despite being at a severe disadvantage, didn't back down from the fight. "You were pretty awesome tonight."

He smiled, or some semblance of it since his still-swollen-and-definitely-bruised jaw limited his ability to fully use all of his facial muscles. "You were awesome."

She grinned, meeting his eyes. "We were pretty badass, weren't we?"

Alek chuckled softly. "Antonio had the right idea."

"Antonio?"

"That's who attacked you while you were looking for the flag."

She angled her head. "You heard him coming?"

"I heard him talking to his partner and saying they should take us out because we'd be the biggest threat.." Alek gave her a cocky smile, and promptly winced when his jaw protested. "He was right."

"So that's why he just attacked." She shook her head. "KInda dumb of him since he ended up getting knocked out and leaving his partner stranded." She doffed her head at him. "Nice kick by the way."

"We make a good team," he said quietly, his eyes meeting hers.

She held his gaze as she gently caressed his face, loving the feel of his skin, pocketed with stubby whiskers, beneath her fingertips. "Yes, we do."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Alek sighed softly, sitting up. "We should probably get some sleep." He pushed himself into a sitting position and was about to get up when her hand shot out, grabbing his elbow. He looked down at her hand before back up at her.

"Stay."

Alek looked genuinely conflicted, his eyes scanning her face before he looked around her room. She had insisted that he be checked out at medical and when he had refused, had retrieved an ice pack and had commanded that he allow her to administer some rudimentary first aid on his face.

"Chloe. . ."

She gave him a sly smile. "Why not? It's not like you haven't slept with me before." She leaned in closer and suppressed her victorious grin when Alek's breath caught in his throat. "Nothing's going to happen unless you want it to and you don't want it to. . .right?"

"R-right."

"So what's the problem?" she queried innocently.

She had to keep from laughing as she watched Alek's inner battle play out on his face and in his eyes. She knew she wasn't playing fair, putting him in a difficult spot. She knew he was stubborn and would want to prove that nothing between them had changed, especially after the make-out session they had had earlier. She also knew that she affected Alek, despite his insistence otherwise, and she knew that his resolve was crumbling the more time he spent with her, as evidenced by how he had caved when she had kissed him earlier. His heart might be fighting her, but his body, hormones and even his mind wanted to be with her.

"I. . ." Alek mumbled, looking between her and the door.

While she would "win" no matter what he decided, she knew she vastly preferred one choice over the other and decided to tip the scales in her favor. She leaned in, kissing him on the cheek, letting her lips linger against his skin before she whispered against his ear,

"Stay with me Alek."

#

Alek might have been incredibly stubborn but he was also a red-blooded teenage boy and in the end, hormones won out, even though they didn't really do more than kiss before falling asleep. Granted those kisses were searing and left her with this burning, aching sensation in the pit of her stomach and made her feel like her entire body was vibrating but that's all they did. . .kiss.

Although she knew they would have gone further if Alek's jaw wasn't still bothering him and if they weren't both exhausted. Kicking ass took a lot out of you apparently. So after a brief, intensely hot session of tonsil hockey, they had fallen asleep, spooned against each other as usual.

Chloe had a blissful, restful sleep, free of nightmares. She awoke just as the sun was beginning to rise, the dim light beginning to brighten her dark dorm room. She could sense that Alek was still asleep. She laid there, delighting in the feel of his arms around her, his warm body pressed against her. She was getting way too used to having him sleep with her, having him around. It was going to be an adjustment when they were back in San Francisco. For one thing, she was pretty sure her mom wasn't going to be okay with Alek climbing into her bed each night, hellish nightmares or no.

She did a quick calculation and realized that today was Saturday, meaning she had only another week at the center before she had to head back home. She sighed. 3 weeks ago and she couldn't wait to get through this month, but here she was, actually wishing she could stay here longer, not wanting her time here to end just yet.

And then she realized something else. . .today was a free Saturday, when trainees could get out of the training center and have some fun in Los Angeles. The last free Saturday had been less than pleasant for her, having to watch Alek head off to the Santa Monica Pier with Lana, and then separating her shoulder. She was determined that this free Saturday would go a lot better.

She checked her watch and realized that it was actually fairly late, and the rapidly rising sun confirmed it. She rolled over, easing herself up on her elbows. She didn't think she'd ever get tired of seeing him asleep, completely relaxed and so sweet looking.

"Alek," she said, nudging him gently, but firmly. He made a noise but didn't open his eyes or otherwise move. "Do you know what today is?"

He groaned softly before he inclined his head towards her, letting her know he was awake, even if his eyes remained closed. "I have a feeling you're gonna tell me."

"Free Saturday," she declared happily. She placed a hand on his chest. "Where are we gonna go?"

It never occurred to her that Alek might have other plans, or that he wouldn't want to actually go anywhere with her. And in that span of time after she asked him and until he responded, her doubts rose up within her. But then Alek's eyes opened and he gave her a slow, lazy grin before he said,

"Anywhere you want."

#

It turns out that the center had a fleet of cars that certain trainees could use. She wasn't sure what the rules were for that but of course Alek was one of those trainees, and he managed to land them a black Honda, which Alek had deemed "boring" but it was a car, and it allowed them the freedom to go wherever they wanted. Chloe had found out that a van transported the other trainees to a destination in downtown Los Angeles, and then picked them all up again later that evening. The trainees who used this mode of getting out of the center had rather limited choices about where to go, as Los Angeles was a huge city, and not really public transportation-friendly.

She and Alek debated about what to do and then decided that they would just rather drive for a while. So they had taken the 405 and had driven until Chloe had seen a sign for a beach. Feeling a strong desire to sink her toes between some sand and to feel the salty air against her face, she had directed Alek to the appropriate exit.

They had ended up spending the day at Huntington Beach, a quaint little area about an hour's drive from downtown Los Angeles. They had explored the little shops, some of which were vintage shops that reminded her of the store she worked at back home. That life seemed so distant to her now, a lifetime ago, which literally, it was. She looked forward to going back to San Francisco and the normalcy of that life but at the same time, she knew that her time here had changed her. She knew what she was capable of and was beginning to understand, even appreciate, her destiny and what it meant to be the Uniter.

A part of her also wondered what it would mean for her and Alek to leave the training center. Here, it felt like they had been cocooned against the world, which had allowed her to slowly win him over again. She wondered if things would change when they returned to San Francisco. She wondered if Alek would once again be her protector and what that would mean. It was not a role that either of them had taken to easily.

Chloe pushed those thoughts from her head, focusing instead on being here with Alek. They were relaxed and happy and it felt exactly like a date, although neither of them wanted to put a label on things. But as they strolled through the sidewalk, peering into stores, Alek had linked his fingers with hers, his touch easy and natural, as if they held hands all the time. The conversation with them flowed naturally, their banter as sharp as ever, but with genuine affection behind it.

In a little vintage shop, Chloe had stumbled across a charm of Bastet, dangling from a sterling silver chain. Tiny little emeralds were inlaid as the cat's eyes. She wanted it but a check of the price tag told her she'd have to save up a few paychecks for it. As she gave it one last, longing look, Alek came up behind her.

"Find something?"

She let the necklace and charm slip from her fingers. "Too expensive."

Alek had stared at it for long moments before he wordlessly took it to the cashier to pay for it. Outside, he had placed it around her neck.

"It's beautiful," she murmured, touching the charm as it lay on her chest, just above the valley between her breasts.

"Very beautiful," whispered Alek. Chloe looked up to find Alek staring at her with an expression that took her breath away.

In the next instant, his lips were against hers and they were kissing like they had been apart for years. They kissed feverishly on the sidewalk, oblivious to where they were until passer-bys had to brush up against them to pass them on the sidewalk.

"Alek. . ." Chloe breathed against his neck. She wished they were someplace much more private right then.

Alek placed a kiss against her temple before he took her hand, leading her down the sidewalk. "Come on."

They had found this place that sold crepes tucked into one of the side streets and Alek had reminisced about taking the train to France when he had lived in London. Alek had shared more of his childhood with her, telling her about growing up with his adopted human parents, about living a normal life until his transformation. Unlike before, these recollections weren't tinged with bitterness, just a bittersweet nostalgia of a life that no longer existed.

She had been transfixed, always thrilled when Alek chose to share things about his life. They had ordered both some savory crepes and a delicious sweet crepe, filled with bananas and a chocolate hazelnut spread, for dessert. Alek had deemed that the crepes were as good as the ones he had sampled in Paris on one of his many sojourns there. She didn't want to make a big deal of it but her heart had soared when Alek had told her that he would have to take her to Paris one day to show her his favorite places.

Whether he realized it or not, she knew that Alek was starting to open himself to her more and more and Chloe's entire being swelled with happiness at it. After lunch, they had played games at the small arcade on the boardwalk where they had both pretty much dominated in all the skills game. After winning three large stuff animals and realizing that winning any more would make them seem like show-offs, or cheats, they had decided to just ride some of the rides. Besides, carrying those things around was damn inconvenient and Chloe had ended up giving away two of the animals to very surprised, but very delighted, kids. She had opted to keep the stripped tiger, declaring that it would make a "good companion" to the stuffed lion Alek had won her at the fair before things had gone wrong.

After nearly making themselves sick by riding all the rides that flipped, dropped and spun them this way and that, they had opted for a nice walk along the beach. They had tossed aside their shoes and then, hand-in-hand, had walked along the water's edge. The water had felt invigoratingly cold against their feet as the waves lapped ashore. They hadn't really talked much, just reveling in each other's company and a day away from the rigors of training.

As the sun had started to set, they had gotten pizza and had eaten it on the sand as they watched the sun dip into the waters and the moon brighten the darkening skies. It was beautiful and the perfect end to a perfect day.

She turned to him, kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks. For today."

Alek's eyes bore into her, his gaze intense. For long moments they just stared at each other and then their lips met and before she knew it, the passion between them had ignited. They collapsed against the sand, kissing and touching like their time together was ticking down, which in a sense it was. Shielded by darkness of the beach as well as the sounds of the ocean, they stretched out across the sand, still warm from the sun's heat, and explored each other's bodies.

Chloe thrilled in kissing Alek, matching the movement of his lips with her own. She dueled with his tongue and shivered whenever contact between the two was made, the slick, hot surfaces sliding against each other and revving up her nerve endings.

Her hand found its way underneath his T-shirt, pushing it up and then over his head until he was shirtless. With her night vision, she was able to see every curve of his muscle, every well-defined plane. She let her hand run over his heated skin slowly, memorizing the tactile features of his chest before she bent and placed a kiss just above his nipple which made him shudder.

She smiled but Alek planted a scorching kiss on her lips that left her breathless. He rolled over so that she laid beneath him as his hands inched up her body, first along her thigh, then up her stomach, underneath her tank, and then cupping her breast, kneading the soft flesh encased in her lace-thin bra.

Chloe gasped, all her senses, already heightened, seemed to be in overdrive. She loved this, loved being close to Alek, loved all these sensations. She wanted to stay like this forever, kissing him and more. And yet. . .

She couldn't help breaking their kiss, angling her head away.

"Chloe?"

"I just. . ." She shook her head, wanting to shut off that part of her mind. "She clasped his face between her hands. "I just needed a minute. It's okay now." She moved to kiss him but Alek pulled away, sitting up. "Alek. Really it's okay. I'm sorry it was just a stupid. . . "

"Hey." Alek's voice was firm, but gentle. He reached out, brushing some sand from her cheek. "We don't have to do anything you're not ready for."

"I'm. . ."

"You don't have to prove yourself to me in that way." His hand clasped her cheek, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Ever."

She sighed. "I do want to be with you. It feels amazing and it's like I never want it to stop but. . ."

"You're not ready." Understanding radiated from his eyes. "It's okay."

"Really?" she asked, doubt creeping into her voice.

"Really." He pulled her towards him, dropping a light kiss on her forehead. "We can wait."


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you all for the kind words and patience! Consider this chapter a little reward. :)

Hope to have the next chapter up sooner than this one took me.

Usual disclaimers apply.

###

REDEMPTION - Ch. 13

The next few days were bliss for Chloe.

So blissful that she managed to forget reality, although that small, irritating voice in the back of her mind, the one that was always so keen on reminding her about things to come, of wanting her to deal with unresolved issues. . .that voice always managed to catch her at the most unexpected times.

When she and AleK had returned from Huntington Beach, it was like something had altered between them. They fell into a rhythm that felt completely natural. They had gone to their rooms to shower, washing off the sand and salty film that had accumulated on their skin and then Alek had come to her room and had wordlessly gotten into bed with her.

That was how it went for the next few days. They had their schedules but at night, Alek would come to her and they would. . .do stuff. Lots more stuff as each night passed, so that the barrier that Chloe felt. . .that thing that made her stop even if every nerve in her body screamed for her to continue. . .that barrier was moving further and further away and she knew that it was only a matter of time before things got really serious with Alek.

The thought had thrilled her but it had also scared her. She knew she was taking a big step. It wasn't like she was one of those girls who attached significant meaning to losing her virginity. She didn't dwell on the fact. She wasn't planning for it. It wasn't some hyped up, super romantic ideal for her.

Still. . .it was a big step. It was a change and she had undergone a lot of changes in the last few months. But unlike those changes, she had a say in this one, and it was her decision alone. Alek, true to his word, never pushed her. If she said stop, either literally or through her actions, he stopped. . .no questions asked, no repercussions, no recriminations or guilt trips.

Chloe knew that in that regards, she was lucky. It wasn't like she had long talks with lots of girls about this topic but she knew from overhearing things – made much easier since her Mai transformation – that quite a few girls in school had rather bad experiences related to their first time. Pressured into it, or abandoned afterwards, or any other myriad reasons to make it less than what a memorable first time should be.

So she was grateful for Alek. . .who was always so patient, gentle and kind. She couldn't ask for a better partner for her first time. Speaking of, she sensed that Alek wasn't a novice like her. . .but like many things that were unsaid between them, she didn't probe that topic. Partly because it was awkward, and partly because she didn't want to know. There were some things were that old adage, "ignorance is bliss" still rang true.

And Chloe was determined to maintain her blissful state of existence. . .especially since her separation from Alek was looming. They hadn't talked about it but she sensed that Alek would not be returning with her to San Francisco at week's end. She wasn't sure what his plans were. . .that topic also fell into the "don't probe, ignorance is bliss" subject area. Chloe knew that she couldn't keep it there forever though. . .they would have to talk about it eventually. That little voice in her head liked to remind her of it.

But eventually was later. . .and for now, she was content to spend her nights with Alek, getting hot and heavy under her covers. She was content to sleep in each morning thanks to the kick-ass job that she and Alek had done on the challenge. Although there had been mornings when she had awoken to find that Alek had gone off to one of his super secret training sessions. He had told her that they didn't exactly count as "morning exercises" so he wasn't excused from them. She always let the topic die there but she knew that the next time he went off to those trainings. . .she would have to ask him for the details.

She sighed, glancing at her computer. It was close to the appointed hour for her mother to call her on Skype. Chloe was a little bothered by how easily she could lie to her mother now, and wondered if it was because she wasn't seeing her mother face-to-face. Would that change once she was back in San Francisco?

So much had happened here. . .she had learned a lot about herself and she didn't know if she could go back to her ordinary life again. . .that normal, ordinary life that she had so desperately wanted. Now it seemed so far, so distant, something in the past that she couldn't quite revisit. Something had changed here, not just her relationship with Alek, but with her. Angelo had helped her to tap into a part of herself that she hadn't even known existed and now that she knew. . .she couldn't go back.

It was what she feared, what Alek had subtly warned her about once. . .that her Mai traits would create a distance between her and "the humans" which included her mother. Amy. Paul. Chloe sighed again. She didn't want to lose her mother. . .literally or in any other sense and she knew that her mom would always accept her but she would have to lie, would have to put that distance between them because that's what kept her mother safe. It was a catch-22 and it came with being the Uniter. There was nothing she could do about it.

Just then her computer chirped. She quickly clicked on the screen and her mom's smiling face came into view.

"Hi Mom," Chloe greeted her mother.

"Two more days."

Chloe smiled. "Miss me?"

"Are you kidding me?" Her mom rolled her eyes. "There are never dirty dishes in the sink. My closet doesn't get raided on a regular basis. No one is smart-mouthing me on a regular basis." Her mom looked straight into the webcam. "I miss you like crazy kiddo!"

Chloe laughed and was about to respond when she heard her door beeping, signaling that the entry code was being entered. Her eyes widened involuntarily. She had forgotten to tell Alek about these regular calls. Her eyes darted to the clock at the bottom of her computer. It was early and Alek didn't usually come to her room until later. She had seen him at dinner but then he had to rush off to training so she had assumed he'd be late.

Seconds later, a sweaty Alek strolled into her room. Chloe gave a silent prayer of thanks that her computer was facing away from the door because there was no amount of lies in the universe that could have helped her explain how Alek had ended up not only at the very same community service program, but was strolling into her room like he did that all the time, which technically, he had been.

"I miss you too, Mom." Chloe glanced up from her computer screen and met Alek's eyes, hoping he had caught her emphasis.

He did, if that mischievous grin on his face was any indication.

The great thing about Skype was that it allowed a more personal connection during a phone conversation. The bad thing about Skype was that you couldn't exactly be doing one thing and saying another so Chloe had to keep her face completely impassive and not react to Alek as he began to strip off his sweaty training clothes, right in her line of sight, and as she's casually talking to her mother about the weather, how much she's missed her friends and all sorts of mundane things.

"So. . .heard from Alek?"

"W-what?" Chloe choked. "A-Alek?"

Her mom's eyes narrowed and it took Mai-levels of willpower to keep her eyes on her computer screen and not look at Alek, who her peripheral vision had gauged as wearing nothing but his boxers at this point. "I was just wondering if you guys are talking again. . .you seem pretty morose about your break-up."

A quick glance at Alek showed him to be wearing a very smug expression which Chloe had to make an effort to ignore. "Oh. . .uh. . .yeah, we. . .talk."

"And?" her mom prompted. Chloe bit her lip. The universe was really having some fun with her right then and there. Alek was now comfortably lounging against the wall, arms crossed across his bare chest, his expression bemused. She shifted her attention back to her computer screen, where he mother was looking at her curiously. "Are you watching T.V. or something?"

"Huh? What?"

"You keep glancing up at something and seem distracted."

"Oh. . .it's um. . .there's a window and something keeps going by. I think there's something going on outside tonight." Chloe resolutely told herself not to look up at Alek, although she didn't need to look at him to know he was probably smirking. She also wondered if she should be concerned that it was getting so much easier for her to lie to her mother like this. But first things first. "Anyways, Mom, can we talk about Alek and all that later? It's been a long day."

"You know Chloe, I'd really thought you'd get the hang of things by now."

"Mom?"

Her mom pointed at her forehead. "I see you got another war wound. What was that from?"

An unblocked kick in hand-to-hand, thought Chloe. Out loud she said,

"Would you believe that was just from walking into the door jam of my room?" She shrugged. "Your daughter's a klutz."

"You didn't use to be," her mom said, sounding concerned. "You don't think it's anything more than just clumsiness and doing new things you're not used to?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I was talking to a co-worker and she mentioned that sometimes brain tumors manifest themselves as clumsiness so. . ." Alek snorted which made Chloe shoot him a warning glare before she remembered that her mother could see everything that she did. "Chloe?"

"Um. . .sorry. I guess I am distracted." She gave her mom a reassuring smile. "Trust me, Mom, I'm just clumsy. It's not a brain tumor."

Her mom nodded. "Still, to be safe, we should have Dr. Samuels check you when you get back. You're due for a physical anyway."

"Mom, that's so not necessary."

"Humor your mother."

Chloe sighed, knowing this wasn't the best time to press the point with her mother. "Argue it later? I have to go. It looks like something's going on outside that I should check out."

"O.K. Don't forget to e-mail me your flight information so I know when to pick you up."

Chloe spent a few more minutes on Skype with her mom, where they engaged in embarrassingly cutesy good-byes complete with overly sentimental declarations of love. Mercifully, with one last "I-love-you" her mom disconnected the call. Double-checking that her camera was off, Chloe shoved her computer off her lap and stalked towards Alek.

"You are so bad!" she chided him.

"So you were morose about me hmm?" Alek teased.

"Oh my God," Chloe said, still advancing on him. "You are not allowed to use anything you overheard, because you, mister, were not supposed to hear any of that."

"I think it's sweet," said Alek, pushing off the wall, and standing up straight, which made him slightly taller than her.

"Seriously," said Chloe, now within arm's length of him. "You didn't hear any of that."

Alek suddenly reached out and pulled her against him. "When are you going to tell your mom that we do more than talk?"

Chloe pressed a hand against his muscular chest to steady herself and felt it slip against the sheen of sweat on his skin. "Ugh. You're all sweaty." She pulled away slightly. "Go shower."

"Join me?" Alek asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

She laughed, pushing against him. "Oh no. You've been a bad boy. You shower alone."

Alek pouted. "I just ran two miles through the desert. I need someone to scrub my back."

"Should have thought of that before you decided to listen in on a private conversation." She gave one last push and managed to disentangle herself from his arms, which suddenly made her feel bereft. "And if you don't shower, you're going to sleep alone too."

"You can be really mean and heartless."

"Yeah, yeah," said Chloe. "My tiny violin is strumming as we speak." Alek sighed and then turned, without picking up his clothes. "Alek! You can't walk out of my room like that."

He gave her an impish grin. "What makes you think I'm leaving? You have a perfectly suitable shower."

Before she could say anything, he turned and headed for her bathroom. Right before he walked in, he paused, stripping off his boxers to reveal a really glorious, toned backside. He inclined his head towards her with a flirty smile that made her heart lurch inside her chest. "That back scrub invitation is open-ended."

Chloe didn't think she breathed for a good five minutes after Alek disappeared into her bathroom. And the entire time he was in there, all she could think about was the water running down his naked body, the water droplets slip-slidding over that perfectly curved posterior of his. Needless to say, she was more than a little distracted.

After what seemed like forever, the shower finally turned off and then Alek came waltzing out of her bathroom, a billow of steam following him. He was wearing nothing more than a towel which sent both her imagination and libido into overdrive. He was going to drive her crazy, in every sense of the word.

"I miscalculated," said Alek, walking over to her bed, where she had been trying to read a book and failing quite miserably thanks to her mind doing nothing but flashing images of him in various states of undress before her eyes.

"Hmmm?" said Chloe, trying to sound nonchalant. She felt her pulse jump as Alek sat down on the bed next to her. His skin glistened and his hair framed his angular face in damp curls. The too-small towel hitched up his thighs, revealing even more of his toned, tanned body. Chloe allowed herself one torturous glance and then resolutely looked elsewhere.

"Don't have any clean clothes."

"That's a problem."

"Not necessarily."

"Oh?"

"You can go get my clothes from my room."

"Or you can go get your own clothes from your room."

"Like this?"

She considered it. She knew that it was pretty much common knowledge at the training center by now that she and Alek were a couple but still, she would like to keep gossip about them to a minimum and Alek coming out of her room wearing nothing but a towel was bound to get the rumor mill going. She sighed, turning to look at him. "You are a lot of trouble, you know that?"

"I'm worth it," he responded smugly.

"And very arrogant."

"You're listing all my best qualities."

Chloe laughed. "You're impossible." She climbed off the bed. "And what does your highness want from his room?" Alek pretended to ponder her question. "Alek. I don't have all day."

"You have eight lives."

She grabbed a pillow and tossed it at him. "Keep pushing it buddy and you're gonna wear one of my dresses out of here."

"Oh, kinky."

"Alek!"

He laughed, sitting up which caused the towel to ride up even further up his thighs, bunching around a very important part of his anatomy. Chloe swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. "On second thought, for what I have in mind, I don't really need clothes." He met her eyes and Chloe gasped softly at the naked desire in them.

"Alek. . ." Her voice sounded small and shaky to her.

"Come here," he commanded, holding out his hand. His voice was low and husky, his accent more pronounced.

Chloe felt compelled to obey, feeling herself extend her hand until his long, strong fingers wrapped themselves against her wrist. She took a few steps toward the bed before Alek gently, but firmly, tugged on her arm, pulling her down onto his lap . .his very naked lap. She rested her hands on his shoulders, feeling the dampness of his skin. He smelled like her vanilla body wash and that scent that was distinctly his. . .kind of musky, a little spicy and very, very masculine. Since her senses had been heightened, Chloe was realizing that everyone had a very distinct scent to them, and she was becoming intimately familiar with Alek's.

He pushed his nose against her collarbone, nuzzling her. Chloe shivered as she felt his warm breath along her neck. One of his arms snaked around her waist, holding her firmly against him. His other hand was lightly caressing her neck and shoulder, leaving delicious tingles on her skin in its wake..

"Alek. . ." she whispered feeling that radiant heat ignite in the pit of her stomach.

"I was pretty morose about you too," he murmured against her neck before he licked the delicate skin.

She gasped, gripping his shoulders tightly. "Were you?" How she was managing to form words was beyond her because it seemed like her brain was solely focused on one thing. . .the movement of Alek's wandering hand as it inched down her neck, past her collarbone and to the curve that marked the start of the swell of her breast.

Alek made a noise that sounded like purring to her as he sniffed her neck, his nose tickling her. "God, you're bloody intoxicating."

Chloe couldn't take it anymore, swiveling her head until her lips found his. She kissed him hard, her tongue pushing against his lips to gain entry. He obliged and then their tongues tangled, dancing erotically with each other.

She moaned, leaning against him, her hands running through his hair, gripping the soft, curly strands. Alek's wandering hand delved beneath the fabric of her camisole, pushing it down to reveal her breast, which he palmed, his hand kneading the soft flesh. Chloe pulled away from their kiss, sucking in air as that radiant heat burst into an all-consuming inferno within her, and the flame quickly overtook her entire body.

Alek reclined, taking her with him until he was lying across her bed, with Chloe draped across him. They kissed as their hands explored each other's bodies and somewhere,, in that part of her mind that was not pure instinct and desire, Chloe was aware that Alek's towel had come off entirely and was scrunched up in a ball near their feet and her camisole had also been discarded, although she wasn't sure how or when that had happened.

She had seen Alek naked before. . .after all, those nights sleeping together had often resulted in some very, very intense make-out sessions. And that barrier in her mind was only moving further and further away because she and Alek had been pushing against it. But there was something still so new, so raw and exciting about seeing Alek completely naked that it still took her breath away. And there was also the pure visceral sight of his toned, perfectly sculpted body in all its bare glory. All those weeks of training was paying off. . .Alek was ripped. And he was all hers.

"You're damn gorgeous," Alek mumbled as he kissed his way across her collarbone and then down her chest. He kissed the swell of her breast and then let his mouth hover over the super-sensitive nipple, his warm breath making it quiver in anticipation. She emitted a low, guttural moan when Alek's tongue flicked the puckered nub and then his mouth closed around it, sucking gently.

Chloe felt like the bones in her body was melting, leaving her completely limp, in the most delightful way. Alek suddenly flipped them over so that she was now underneath him. The feel of his hot, strong body, his heavy but comfortable weight against her kicked her desire up even further.

"I like being on top," Alek teased, as a hand found its way under the elastic of her pajama bottom, cupping her butt.

Chloe quirked an eyebrow. "That's not what you said last night."

Alek's face flushed as the memory of their make-out session last night ran through his mind. The make-out session that had her straddling him and her thighs rubbing against his manhood and her breasts, in his words, "at the perfect height and position." Only Alek would make those statements in those moments. And only Alek was able to get away with it.

He slowly eased her pajama bottom down her hips and then off her legs. She kicked them off and then shivered as her bare legs grazed against the hair on Alek's legs, their bodies becoming even more entangled. They spent what seemed like an eternity, kissing, touching, tasting and Chloe felt like this time she was ready and yet, when Alek's hand crept beneath her panties and Chloe felt her mind slam straight into that invisible barrier.

Alek sensed it, he always did, and pulled his hand away before he laid down next to her. His breathing was still rapid and she knew he was trying to calm himself down. She sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I. . ."

"Hey," he said, the slightest note of reproach in his voice. "No apologies remember?"

She eased herself up on an elbow. "I don't. . ." She shook her head as she reached out to caress his cheek. "I want you so bad and the further we go, the more I want it but. . ."

He placed his own hand on top of hers, stilling its motion against his cheek. "It'll happen. When we're both ready it'll happen." He gave her an impish grin. "Besides, I'm irresistible so it's only a matter of time."

Chloe laughed before she grew serious. She looked between his legs and back up at him. "Do you. . .?"

Alek sighed. "I'll take care of it in a minute."

"I can help if. . ."

Alek shook his head. "I appreciate the offer but if we start touching each other, especially down there, it's gonna be really hard for me to stop."

Chloe nodded before she laid down, keeping her head close to Alek but not quite touching. "You know it's definitely not you or how I feel about you right?"

"Chloe King. . .if you don't stop with that line of thought, I may have to take drastic action."

"I just. . .I hate getting you worked up and then. . ." She shook her head. "I feel like such a tease."

Alek moved so quick that all she saw was a blur before he was looming right over her, his face only inches from hers. "Don't ever say that about yourself again."

"I'm sorry, I. . ." The look on Alek's face made her cut off whatever she was saying. "I won't."

He nodded. "This isn't about sex." He placed a hand on her stomach and she quivered beneath his touch, that flame which she thought had been extinguished quickly roaring to life. "Besides, I'm not the only one worked up." He lifted an eyebrow. "At least I have a way to get it out. . ."

He had a point. It was hard on her to suddenly put the brakes on like that. And it was taking longer for her body to cool down. She felt like a violin whose strings were getting pulled tighter and tighter and very soon, something was going to snap.

Alek's eyes gleamed before he eased his hand to the elastic of her panties. His eyes met hers and she looked at him questioningly. "Alek?"

"Shhh. . ." he soothed, his hand creeping beneath her panties, his long, strong fingers reaching into her folds. "Let me help you." Alek's thumb looped around the elastic of her panties and eased them off of her before his hand returned to stroking her.

Chloe groaned and arched her back as one of his fingers rubbed against her clit. "Ahhhh. . ." she breathed as Alek began to stroke her, slowly at first and then with quicker movements.

He bent down and captured her lips in a searing kiss just as one of his fingers entered her. Chloe moaned into the kiss as she felt that inferno take over completely. She spread her legs, giving him better access. As she grew wetter and the pulsating desire climbed higher and higher, she felt her head loll to the side, one of her hand gripping the sheet of her bed as Alek's fingers brought her to the edge. With one more decisive thrust of his finger as his thumb rapidly stroked her engorged nub, Chloe went right over the edge, feeling her body shake with intense pleasure.

Alek held her as she slowly came back down, feeling her heart rate slow and her breathing stabilize. "Oh my God," she breathed.

She felt Alek smile against her temple. "Better?" She could only nod as the only words going through her head she had already uttered. Alek chuckled softly. "See? There are other ways for us to have fun without you worrying about. . .that thing."

She sighed, her body completely relaxed. "What about you? Are you sure you don't want me to. . .?"

Alek took one of her hands, raising it to his lips as he pressed a kiss into her palms. "Not tonight." He placed a kiss against her temple before he rose, climbing out of bed. "I'll take a rain check on it though."

Chloe never felt this way before, so relaxed, content and happy. And yet, something niggled at her in the very back of her mind. It wasn't until Alek came out of the bathroom, that she knew what it was. As he climbed into bed with her, positioning himself behind her, his naked body pressed against hers, Chloe couldn't quite silence the small voice whispering into her ear.

Two more days, it said. Two more days before all of this ends.


	14. Chapter 14

Here's the latest installment. i'm about to wrap the story up so hopefully I'll be able to write faster now that the end is within sight.

Thanks for the continued support of the story.

Usual disclaimers apply. . .

###

REDEMPTION - Chapter 14

Chloe knew that she couldn't put off the inevitable much longer. She was leaving tomorrow and she and Alek still hadn't talked about what their plans would be post-training camp. Things here had been so wonderfully idyllic. . .after a very rough, painful start. . .that it seemed like neither of them were willing to shatter the delicate, hard-earned peace they had erected between them.

But it could no longer be avoided.

After a session with Angelo, where he had been more than a little impatient with her since she still couldn't quite tap into that hidden reserve of power, although she felt like she was coming closer all the time, Chloe had returned to her room exhausted to find a note from Alek telling her that he had to skip dinner but that he wanted her to meet him on the roof later.

She felt a sense of foreboding reading his note, but shoved that feeling deep within her. Denial was still one of her best coping mechanism and she was going to use it as long as she could.

So she took more time than usual at dinner and then went back to her room to check her e-mails. Finally, when she could no longer put it off, she made her way up to the roof, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten as she climbed up the ladder.

It was a beautifully clear night, the moon only a sliver in the black sky. Except for the distant sounds of insects, it was quiet and it would probably sound completely silent if not for her Mail super-hearing. Alek was already on the roof, like she knew he would be, standing on the edge and peering down.

"You just do that to freak me out, don't you?"

He had impeccable reflexes and didn't outwardly react to her sudden appearance at all. "Chloe. I was beginning to wonder if Angelo pulled you into a special session or something."

Just avoiding this, she thought to herself. Out loud she said,

"Sorry. I had some e-mails to answer." She sighed softly and then took the bullet and firmly bit it. "Everyone's really excited about me coming home tomorrow."

Alek's expression shifted, almost imperceptibly but she had cat's night vision and it was all too perceptible to her. "Are you?"

"Are you?" she repeated, throwing the question back at him.

A heavy silence descended as they both considered the heavily loaded question hanging between them, unanswered.

"You're not coming with me, are you?" Chloe finally asked, unable to stand the silence any longer. Denial was a gift at times but at others, like right now, it felt like nothing but a curse, an exercise in futility. Like standing on the railroad tracks and looking the other way even as all your senses screamed at you that a train was about to slam right into you at any moment.

Alek sighed before he shook his head. Chloe had already suspected this but getting confirmation, even non-verbal confirmation of it, still stung. Quite a lot.

She inhaled deeply, as if sucking in courage, before she asked the next dreaded question. "Why not?"

Alek ran a hand through his hair, staring off into the desert night. Chloe waited for his response, feeling her heart hammering inside her chest as she did so. "I'm going to Europe."

"W-what?"

He sighed. "It's why I've been in those training sessions." He met her eyes and she saw doubt in them, which should have appeased her, but didn't. "I'm joining the this. . .group."

"What group?"

"It's classified and. . ."

"Don't give me that," she cut in. "What group?"

"They infiltrate the Order."

"What?" A million thoughts raced through her head, all of them ending with Alek losing life and limb. "Are you crazy? You're joining some Mai spy group?"

"Look, I've thought about this."

"Does Valentina and Jasmine know?" He hesitated, scuffling his feet. "You didn't tell them?"

"I told them tonight."

Again, she should have felt better that she wasn't the only person Alek had kept this from but she didn't. "What did they say?"

He sighed. "They don't want me to do it."

"That makes three of us."

His nostrils flared in irritation. "I don't need their permission."

"You can't just run off and join some secret, suicidal group. . ." She sighed. "You're not even old enough! You're still in high school."

"It's not a suicidal group." Chloe scoffed. "And I'll be 18 in a few months. That's old enough to join the military here."

"Of all the things you'd adopt from "the humans" you're picking the ability to go fight wars and get killed?"

"I'm not going to get killed."

"You're suddenly invincible?"

"I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" she shot back, feeling this overwhelming feeling of pain overtake her. Her mind was telling her that she was in pain but she didn't feel anything physical. The physical stuff she was getting really good at dealing with. But this abstract. . .ache. This she didn't know how to deal with, didn't know to make it better or how to stop it from overtaking her completely.

"Yes." He threw back his shoulders, as if readying himself for a fight.

"This is insane!"She gripped her head in her hands, staring up at the inky black sky. "You cannot run off to Europe and join a group that. . ." She exhaled. "I don't even know what they do and you probably don't either!"

"I'm going to join the tracking unit," said Alek. "They track members of the Orders to see where they meet and with who. That helps us to pinpoint their locations down."

"And what if they catch you?" Alek looked down at his feet and Chloe gasped. "Oh my God. Alek. . .you can't."

"They won't catch me."

"You're not invincible and you're certainly not invisible."

"I've trained really hard for this Chloe. And they'll train me some more once I get to Europe."

"All the training in the world isn't going to. . ." She sighed.

Alek was going to say something but clamped his mouth shut and drew in a deep breath as if to calm himself. "Look, I know I should have said something sooner but we were. . ."

"We were what?" she demanded. "What were you doing with me then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"If you knew that you were going to go off to Europe to get yourself killed, then what was this?" She gestured back and forth between them. "What were you doing?"

"First of all, I'm not going to Europe to get myself killed."

"That's what it sounds like to me," she retorted.

"And second of all," Alek continued as if she hadn't said anything. "What does that have to do with us?"

She scoffed. "You cannot be that dense."

"Chloe. . ."

"Why would you be with me and let me think that. . ." She sucked in a breath as that ache swelled inside of her. "Why would you do and say all those things if you knew you were going to leave me at the end of it all?" She felt the tears prickling behind her eyes. "What is this? Payback for Brian or something?"

Alek looked hurt at her accusation, his expression growing stony. "That's not how I operate."

"Well how do you "operate"?" Chloe shot back, latching onto her anger because it was the only emotion that could overcome that throbbing ache. "You just don't bother to tell me that I may never see you again? You don't think I'd care about something like that? That it's not an important piece of information?"

"I didn't. . ."

Something suddenly occurred to her. . .something incredibly painful but at this point, Chloe no longer cared. What was more pain on top of all the pain she was already feeling? "You still don't trust me do you?" Alek hesitated, just barely but it was enough for her. "Oh my God. . .even after everything?"

"Chloe, it's not that. . ."

"I don't know what else I can do," she cried. "What do you want? You have everything. . .my heart, my soul." She shook her head. "You want me to sign something in blood?"

"This is ridiculous," Alek replied. "This has nothing to do with how I feel about you."

"Oh really?" she challenged. "I think it has everything to do with how you feel about me because if you really cared about me, you wouldn't go. You wouldn't do this knowing how much I hate it."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" she cried, feeling the tears escape. The more intractable Alek became, the more desperate she grew. "Not want you to risk your life for some stupid war? Not want to see you get hurt? To want you to be with me?"

"It's not a stupid war," Alek shot back. "The Order took everything from me. They killed my parents. They're killing Mai every day! If we can get into the Order, if we can break them from the inside, we can end things for good. . .and that will keep you safe."

"You're doing this for me? That's how you see it?"

"I'm doing it for both of us."

She shook her head. "No, you're not. You're doing it for you." She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. "You were always going to do this weren't you? That's why you came here, isn't it?" His silence was answer enough for her. "And these last weeks with me hasn't changed your mind at all has it?" She chuckled mirthlessly. "I guess that tells me all I need to know how you really feel about me."

Alek took a few steps towards her and she cringed backwards. "Chloe, these last weeks with you have been. . ." He sighed. "I've wanted to pull out of the whole thing more times than I can count."

"Then do it," she beseeched him. "Forget going to Europe. Forget fighting this war. Just come back to San Francisco with me."

Alek looked genuinely conflicted. "Chloe. . ."

"But you won't," she said sadly. "Because at the end of the day, you still won't trust me will you? Because if you did, you'd take a chance with me."

"This isn't. . ."

"I'm so stupid," she mumbled. "All this time and we've never really talked about what would happen outside of training camp because there is no us outside of training camp is there?" she sighed. "I knew things were different here, that it wouldn't be the same once we left but I thought it'd be enough. I guess I deluded myself into thinking that."

"You didn't."

She shook her head. "If that were true, you'd come back with me." Silence hung between them and Chloe chuckled. "Now who's deluding themselves?"

"Europe isn't forever. I'll be back in six months."

"Six months," Chloe repeated. "That's several lifetimes for me."

"Don't even joke about that."

"Oh, your life is of no consequence but mine, of which I have way more than you do, is suddenly sacred?"

"It's not suddenly sacred," Alek shot back. "Your lives have always been sacred."

"And what about your life? Is that sacred too? Or is it suddenly disposable?"

"That's not what this. . ."

"You can't yell at me for being reckless about my life and safety when you won't do the same with yours. It makes you a hypocrite." She could feel the tears rolling down her face, unchecked. She clung to the anger because it was better than dealing with the pain. "It makes you a stupid hypocrite because I have eight lives. . .you have one!"

Alek's jaw clenched. "I've been doing this far longer than you have."

"Not that long."

Alek was going to say something but thought better of it. He sighed deeply, staring off into the distance for several minutes. When he spoke again, his voice was softer, calmer. "Look, I don't want to fight with you Chloe. Not now. This isn't how I wanted to tell you. I don't want to upset you."

"Like you care," she fired back and felt a small measure of satisfaction at seeing him cringe at her words. "And how did you think I'd react? With relief and joy?"

"Don't' do this, Chloe."

"I'm not doing anything," she said. "You are."

Alek took a few more steps towards her, his hand outstretched. "Chloe, please. Just understand. I have to do this and in six months, I'll be back in San Francisco and we can be together. I. . ." His eyes bore into her, imploring her but all she could think about was that tomorrow, Alek was going to go off to Europe and most likely get killed and she. . .she couldn't quite picture anything beyond how bleak her life was going to be after tonight. "I care about you. I do. This is. . .it's just a temporary thing." He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I really need you to understand. I don't want us to leave things like this. I don't want to leave tomorrow with us like this."

Chloe wanted to throw herself into his arms, to beg him to stay but she knew that was futile. And the only other thing she wanted to do at that moment was rage. . .rage against Alek, at the universe for the whole Mai-Order stupidity, and at herself, for not being able to rise above, for being nothing more than a creature driven by her emotions.

"I want you to not risk your life. I want you to come home with me so we can be together." She laughed bitterly. "I guess neither of us is getting what we want."

"Chloe. . ."

She suddenly had to get away. . .from this rooftop, from Alek. All she could do when she looked at him was picture his death and how she'd feel and she couldn't handle it anymore. She felt a scream welling up inside of her and she fought to suppress it. A strangled, choked sob manage to escape and giving Alek one, last accusatory glare, she took off running. . .right for the edge of the roof. As she got nearer, instead of slowing down, she accelerated and then right at the edge, she propelled herself off of it, then flipped herself over. She felt weightless for several seconds as she flew though the air before she could sense the ground beneath her feet. She tucked her legs in, curling up and seconds before she hit the ground, extended all her limbs so that she landed in a crouching position. She barely felt the impact on her body, it was like she had simply floated to the ground.

"Chloe!"

She bolted upright and ran, putting as much distance between her and Alek as possible.

#

There was only one place in the entire training center that she could go to escape Alek, where his access was restricted.

Angelo's.

If Angelo was bothered by her pounding on his door, he didn't let it show. He took one look at her, face streaked with tears and panting loudly like she had just sprinted a marathon, and Angelo had silently beckoned her inside his private chambers.

"He told you," was all that he said and all that was needed to be said to unleash a fresh torrent of tears on Chloe's part.

Angelo had stayed with her, letting her cry until her body became incapable of manufacturing any more tears. Angelo had tried to talk to her but Chloe could do nothing more than sit forlornly on his couch, staring at the wall. She didn't sleep at all that night and as morning dawned, felt even worse, knowing that it was only hours until Alek left, off to parts unknown in Europe, possibly never to return.

Chloe couldn't stand to be inside anymore and brushing aside any concern from Angelo, she headed for her room. She was wary of running into Alek but thankfully, he was nowhere to be found. He had been in her room, however, as evidenced by the small, handwritten note placed on top of her pillow.

_Chloe –_

_I hate to leave things like this between us but Angelo wouldn't let me in to see you and you. . . I promise I'll be back in six months if not sooner. I'll be leaving at 7. I hope I get a chance to see you to say a proper good-bye before then. Don't hate me._

_A._

Chloe felt a fresh wave of tears threatening to spill forth so she hastily changed into her workout clothes and headed for the track. She didn't have to participate in morning exercises but right then, she could really use the distraction.

Outside, she took up with the group, ignoring all the inquisitive looks sent in her direction. She knew she looked awful after a night of crying, and knowing she was about to lose Alek, possibly for good, didn't exactly put a cheerful expression on her face. But she didn't care. She was here to distract herself until she went to pack to return to San Francisco. . .without Alek and to a life she wasn't quite sure how to navigate anymore.

She had just finished the obstacle course, coming in first and barely breaking a sweat which was quite the change from her first days at the camp, when she saw one of the camp's ubiquitous black car pull out of the garage and head for gates. It paused briefly at the gate, waiting for it to open before it pulled through.

As Chloe watched the gates close behind the car, she was seized with a feeling of panic.

She couldn't let Alek leave like this. . .couldn't let last night be their last memory of each other. He was going off to risk life and limb and thought that she hated him and. . .she had to tell him. She had to tell him!

In a burst of power, Chloe took off running for the gates. "Alek!" she screamed but the car continued to pull further and further away.

Her panic escalated, not wanting him to leave without knowing. She had to see him. Just one last time, to fix last night and to tell him how she really felt.

"Alek!" she yelled as she ran. She felt that well of power within her grow and unlike before, it didn't diminish as she tried to access it. In fact, it seemed to grow as she focused harder and harder on catching up with Alek's car.

"Hey!" one of the guards at the gate yelled, coming out the security booth next to the gate.

Chloe ignored him, reaching deeper into herself, feeling herself drawing more and more power from that well inside of herself. She could feel herself accelerating effortlessly, her breathing deepening to help her draw in more oxygen as she exerted herself more and more.

"Stop!" the guard commanded, raising his weapon in warning.

Chloe didn't know exactly what happened next but she was aware of finally reaching deep into that well and drawing upon the power contained in it. And Angelo was right. . .the power was immense and awesome. In the next instant, it was like everything sped up and slowed down all at once. She could see the guard begin to raise his weapon to fire off a warning shot, she could see his partner start to come out of the security booth, also hoisting a weapon. But it was like they were moving in slow motion, and she was at super speed. She could also sense, without really thinking about it, how to get over the electrified fence, as if her mind and body worked out that plan subconsciously.

And then just like that, she was on top of the guard, kicking his weapon out of his hand before she jumped on his shoulder, using her momentum and his body as a kind of trampoline to propel herself up and forward. She was aware of the guard stumbling backwards from her action but she was now solely focused on scaling the fence. Using her incredible inner power, she stretched herself out as long as possible, and for a few seconds, it was like she was literally flying through the air.

She felt herself soaring over the barbed wire on top of the fence before gravity began to pull her down. She curled herself into a ball to minimize the impact on her limbs and landed on the ground with a smooth shoulder roll. She heard the door to the security booth opening and turned around in time to see the other guard emerging, weapon raised.

She was on her feet in the blink of an eye, her claws extended, eyes fully dilated. She turned, claws outstretched, hissing at the guard. The guard was stunned and froze, which gave Chloe enough time to turn back around and begin to chase Alek's car again.

"Alek!" she yelled at the car and took off running. She knew she was running incredibly fast but the car seemed to be getting further and further away. Just as she was wondering if she might have to give up, the car's brake lights came on.

The car door open and then Alek's distinctive curly, blonde-brown head of hair popped up. But before she could get to him, she felt a hand on her arm, restraining her.

With a cry of anger, Chloe whirled and with her free arm, jammed it straight into the chest of the guard, who had caught up to her when she had stopped. With that one simple motion, she sent the guard flying. . .several feet through the air before he crashed onto the desert floor with a heavy thud. Her eyes scanned the perimeter for any other threats and noted that the other guard, now recovered from being used by Chloe as a human trampoline was running towards her. She hissed in anger, seeing him as nothing more than another barrier to Alek, and extended her claws as she crouched down into a fighting position.

"Stop," said a heavily accented voice but Chloe didn't move, still eyeing the advancing guard. The guard, however, obeyed Angelo and stopped. He had his weapon raised and was looking a Chloe with an expression between anger and wariness.

"_Senorita_ King. . .it is okay." Chloe glanced at Angelo before she slowly straightened and then retracted her claws. Angelo turned to the guard and raised a hand. "Perhaps we should let _Senorita _King have her time with _Senor_ Petrov, _si?_" Angelo smiled. "It is probably best not to try and stop her. . .for our sakes."

Chloe didn't want for the guard's reaction. She turned and headed straight for Alek. She flew into his arms. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Chloe. . ." Alek murmured, his arms wrapping themselves tightly around her.

"I couldn't let you go like this. I couldn't let you go thinking that I hated you. I couldn't let that be our goodbye. I know you're going to come back to me. You better come back because if you get yourself killed over there, I swear I'm going to find a way to resurrect you so I can kill you. Do you understand? I don't know why you're doing this. I hate that you're doing this but if it's important to you then. . ."

"Chloe. . ." Alek interrupted her breathless rambling.

She clung to him tighter, feeling like the minutes were counting down on them. There was so much she wanted to say to him, and so little time. She forced herself to take a breath, feeling the air burning through her lungs. So much to say and yet. . .only one thing really mattered.

She pulled back so that she could look into Alek's face. She grasped his face between her hands, staring into those brown eyes of his. "I love you."

Alek's eyes widen at her words. "You what?"

"I love you," she repeated, louder and clearer this time. "If you want to take anything with you to Europe, take that."

"Chloe. . ."

"I wanted you to know that before you left." She felt moisture on her cheeks and wondered when she had started crying. "I couldn't let you leave thinking I hated you." She leaned her head against his. "I mean you make me so mad sometimes and I still think that you're crazy for doing this but I could never hate you."

They stayed like that for long moments before Chloe pulled back again. She pressed a kiss against his lips and then they were kissing, desperately, fervently, knowing their time was running out. When she finally pulled away, she was surprised to see a sheen of moisture in Alek's eyes, his face contorted with emotion. "I'll be back before you know it," said Alek, his voice husky and raw.

She nodded. She had to be brave, had to believe it because that's all she had for now. "You better. You're taking half my heart with you and. . ." Her voice cracked and she bit down on her lips to keep from sobbing. Now was not the time. "I love you, Alek." She wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him tightly. She pressed her face into his neck, feeling her tears meshing into his skin. "Please come back to me."


	15. Chapter 15

Happy Holidays!

Here is my gift to you all for your patience and support of this story. Although some of you might not be so happy with me at the end of this chapter.

Rest assured, the ending will be up relatively soon. . .

REDEMPTION - Chapter 15

"How did it feel?" Chloe gave Angelo a puzzled look. He chuckled softly. "To finally tap into that source of power?"

"Oh," murmured Chloe. She thought about Angleo's question and didn't really know how to answer it. "It was, uh. . .kind of weird actually. Like something else took over. I mean I was aware but at the same time, it was like I wasn't in control. . .something else was."

Angelo nodded. "_Si, si._ It was the power." Chloe sighed. "You did not like tapping into your power?"

"No, I. . . ." She sighed again, staring out at the passing landscape. After her very dramatic and teary goodbye to Alek, she had just enough time to apologize to the guards, pack and then join Angelo in the car for her ride to the airport. She wondered if Angelo personally saw off all his trainees as he had done Alek. "I guess it. . .scares me. To know what's inside of me."

"That you can control."

"It didn't feel like I was in control."

"Did you not achieve what it was you truly desired, what it was you wanted?" Angelo raised a questioning brow. "To stop Mr. Petrov from leaving until you could say good-bye?"

"Yes."

"That is control." Angelo smiled gently at her. "I once told you that fear triggers your power but your desire is what controls it."

Chloe thought about Angelo's words and realized he was right. She had been terrified that she wouldn't be able to stop Alek, that he would leave thinking she hated him, that their last memory of each other was that awful confrontation on the roof. And as the guards had stepped up to try and stop her, that fear is what had ignited the power source inside of her, but tapping into it. . .that had been her desire to get past the guards, get past the gate, get past anything between her and Alek's quickly departing car. Wanting to be with Alek one last time, that was what had driven her and as she needed more and more power, she could simply access it. That ability, it was what had allowed her to control her actions, without really being aware of it.

Looking back, all of her movements had been precise, all designed to do as Angelo had put it, fulfill her desire to stop Alek's car. Nothing had been able to stop her, which in hindsight, was astounding.

"You are beginning to understand, _si?_"

Chloe nodded, smiling. "Yes."

"You must continue to train, to continue to push yourself. Triggering your power and controlling it, it must come naturally, at will."

"I don't know if I can. . .back in San Francisco. . ."

"I will speak to Valentina about changing your training." Angelo waved his hand in the air. "You do not need to do those physical tasks, unless you desire to do so." Angelo focused those cat-like eyes of his on her. "Instead, you must continue those mediation exercises I taught you and you must learn how to tap into your power, with more ease. . .without so much, ah. . .drama?"

She chuckled softly. "That would be nice. I don't want to have to beat up guards and jump electrified fences every time I need to access my power."

Angelo smiled. "I am sure those guards, whoever they might be, would appreciate it as well."

Chloe laughed. "I really am very sorry about that."

Angelo shook his head. "It was a good lesson for them." Angelo glanced out the window as the huge, white "LAX" came into view. Her super hearing picked up the sound of airplanes landing and taking off as well as the general traffic noises surrounding an airport. "It has been a privilege contributing to your training Chloe King."

"Am I going to see you again?"

Angelo smiled. "Oh, _si, si._ Most definitely you will."

Chloe impulsively threw her arms around Angelo and hugged him. "Thank you. For everything."

Angelo returned her embrace. "It is I who should thank you Chloe. It is not every day that one gets to train the Uniter. Indeed, it is not in every one's lifetime." Angelo pulled away and smiled at her fondly. "Thank you for being such a strong pupil. I know I pushed you to your limits."

"Yes, you did," she agreed. "But I'm glad. . .I learned a lot."

Angelo stared at her for long moments before he patted her cheek affectionately. "_Hasta luego_, Chloe." As she moved to open the door, Angelo hand touched her arm, halting her. "And do not worry about Alek. . .he is very smart, very stubborn and fights like a rabid cat." Chloe couldn't help laughing. That was the best summation of Alek she had heard yet. "And he has the best motivation to come back home." Angelo looked at her meaningfully. "He has you, he has love. There is nothing stronger."

#

Chloe loved being back home. . .and yet she didn't.

She loved seeing her mom again, being with her, and sleeping in her own room, surrounded by her things and snuggled in her familiar, soft, warm bed. She loved seeing Paul and Amy again, visiting the places they liked to visit and talking about the usual things. She even loved going back to work, dealing with Lana's moodiness.

But she had changed, in very significant ways and while she loved all these old, familiar things. . .it didn't quite feel right. Like she had outgrown a favorite pair of shoes. She still loved the shoes, that hadn't changed, but the fit wasn't the same, no matter how much she wanted it to be.

Worse yet, there wasn't anyone that she could really talk to about it.

Jasmine and Valentina were great. They worked hard to help her continue Angelo's training and Jasmine, in particular, seemed to have fully forgiven her for what had happened with Alek. They worried about him together, and it helped to have someone to talk to but Chloe couldn't really tell Jasmine about how she had changed. She couldn't describe the power that laid within her, the incredible transformation that she underwent at training camp.

Only one person really understood that because he had seen and experienced it with her. Unfortunately for her, that one person was in parts unknown in Europe, hopefully staying safe and not doing anything too dangerous. She had spoken to him very briefly as he had waited for someone to pick him up to take him to a classified location and he had told her that they would be confiscating his phone for security purposes. The conversation had been awkward, both trying to reassure the other but neither quite believing it. They were also both aware of the time pressure as Alek waited for his pick-up, knowing that it would be months before they could talk to each other again. In that context, it was next to impossible to have a natural conversation.

It had been a week since then, a week where she thought of him all the time. Sometimes, he was all she thought about so to say she was a little preoccupied and distracted would have been a serious understatement.

Everyone picked up on it and she told them the truth, more or less, depending on how much of her life she could expose them to. For her mom, it was the bare basics, which she knew didn't quite satisfy her mom but there was little she could do. Chloe knew that the day would come when she would have to have "the conversation" with her mother, and that day was fast approaching but until then, she had to continue to 'shade" the truth with her mother. To Paul and Amy, she told them everything, and they were great about being understanding and supportive, but short of going over to Europe to track Alek down and bring him home, there was little they could do for her.

School was due to start again in a few days and Chloe felt a weird ambivalence about it. In some ways it felt like she was pretending to be a normal high school girl. The thought of that made her laugh. She had fought so hard to just be a normal high school girl and one month in a training camp had changed that forever, making it an impossibility. She was not a normal high school girl, no matter how much she wanted to be, and that was the cold hard truth. Besides, she wasn't sure normalcy was what she wanted anymore.

Being who she was, being the Uniter. . .she had learned that it wasn't so bad. She had access to an incredible well of power. She was practically a superhero. She had the power to change things, real power, which was something so many people, of all ages, so desperately wanted. Normalcy meant she wouldn't have any of that. Normalcy also meant no Alek because being with Alek was about as un-normal as it got.

After all, how many normal, high school girls had boyfriends who were off in Europe in some super secret, very dangerous, but highly evolved species spy group? Very, very far from normal.

But normalcy was a shield for her, and it was a good way to protect her family and friends for now so she did it. Again, doing all the school prep felt familiar and comforting but ill-fitting somehow. She wondered if she was always going to feel like that. . .like she didn't quite fit in to her life anymore.

Her double life, she thought wryly. My double, normal life. Because she still trained with Valentina and she still had guards on her at night, which made her miss Alek all the more. Training with Valentina had changed, with input from Angelo, who apparently was in close contact with the San Francisco pride. Instead of physical drills, they now encompassed mediation exercises and her training was more rigorous. They had her do more strength exercises and she heard one of the guards talking about finding an adequate space for munitions training since Valentina's apartment, while spacious, didn't have a firing range.

Chloe was both nervous and excited about the prospect of doing that kind of training and again, she wished that Alek was here so that she could talk to him about it. She knew he would love that aspect of training. There were lots of things she wanted to tell Alek, all the time. Mundane things and important things and sometimes nothing at all. She was starting to have conversations with him in her head and she wondered if that was the first sign of insanity.

Chloe sighed softly and reached for her phone, pulling up Amy's number. It rang several times before it went to her friend's voicemail.

"Hey Amy, I'm almost done shopping for school supplies. Want to meet me for a quick bite to eat? If you're with Paul, just ask him to come along. Call me back OK?"

She hung up the phone and debated her next move. It was still early so heading home wasn't really the best option. Besides, if Amy called and they decided to meet up, she'd just have to go right back out. While her new car made getting around much easier, it was still a hassle to drive around San Francisco with the traffic, and never mind the hassle of finding a parking space.

But for now. . .she had nothing to do and an hour or so to kill. Her mind went to Angelo's training camp where free time like this was a rare, often non-existent, thing. Her schedule had been so hectic that she had been thankful for any free time, whenever she could find it. And yet, somehow she and Alek had found plenty of time to be together. Not enough but she doubted any amount of time with Alek would have been enough for her.

Chloe decided that she would head to the pier. Thankfully, during the day, her guards were less prominent and they did a good job of staying out of sight. Sometimes she couldn't even sense them which made things a little easier for her. She made her way to the pier, the same one where she and Alek had had that fight about Brian, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

She grabbed a coffee at a nearby place and then made her way down to the walkway, finding a spot to sit at the end, which gave her a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge, rising majestically in the background. The wind billowed around her, pulling her hair loose from the bun she wore it in and whipping it around her face. She inhaled the slightly salty air and closed her eyes, practicing some of that mediation technique she had learned, trying to slowly tune everything out, one by one.

"Chloe?"

Her eyes snapped open and she whirled around to find him standing behind her.

"Brian?"

They exchanged awkward smiles as they stared at each other, neither knowing what to say beyond the other's names. Although, Chloe thought, what exactly is a good opener for when you see the boy you had a crush on who turned out to be the son of your sworn enemy and who you had accidentally paralyzed temporarily because it turned out he was a different species than you? Miss Manners didn't exactly have a rule for that scenario.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, going with the obvious, but safe, question.

"I was shopping nearby." He looked at the bags by her feet. "Looks like you had the same idea."

"Just some school stuff."

"Me too," he said, shuffling his feet.

"You're going back to college?"

He nodded. "I'm leaving tomorrow. Headed back east where my mom's family lives." He cleared his throat. "The, non-Order part. . .they don't know about my dad and all that."

"The less murderous branch of the family tree," Chloe blurted out. She regretted it a nanosecond later. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"It's kinda true."

She sighed. "It. . .has nothing to do with you."

He chuckled wryly. "Now if only that were true."

"It is."

He shook his head. "No, it's not."

"You're not a part of that."

"My dad. . ."

"You didn't know."

"So I get a pass for being an oblivious idiot."

"If it's any comfort, I didn't know either until it was almost too late."

"Quite the pair we made huh?"

She laughed. "Yeah."

Another awkward silence stretched between them before Brian's eyes searched her face. "So. . .how are you? You seem. . .different."

"Do I?'

He nodded. "I don't know what it is. . .it just. . .I guess a lot of things are different since that night in the theater huh?"

"Yeah," she agreed.

"But you're good? And my dad and his group they. . .you know?"

She looked at him for a beat. "Do you really want to know?"

He sighed. "And this is why it can't work with us, right?"

"There's a reason _Romeo and Juliet_ is considered a tragedy."

Brian's eyes narrowed as his expression turned thoughtful. "Is that what we were?"

"Families at war, forbidden attraction and all that?" She shrugged. "Yeah, kinda."

"Some would say _Romeo and Juliet_ was a love story."

"They both died in the end," she noted. "That's a pretty sucky love story."

"Point taken," he said with a smile.

Chloe returned his smile but there was an unease between them, one that had manifested that night at the theater and which she knew would never go away. It was more than his father being a major player in The Order, or that they were basically different species. It came down to the fact that she and Brian were incompatible. Aside from the safe normalcy that he seemingly offered and which she had mistakenly thought she had wanted, there wasn't much there between them.

Sure she was attracted to him, or had been. He was a good-looking guy, but so were dozens of other guys. She had just come back from a training complex full of buff, attractive guys. . .who were the same species as her. She and Brian didn't have that much in common. He was in college, he was older, yet in many ways he was also less mature than she was. Death did have a way of maturing someone very quickly. They didn't have much to talk about. . .heck, she didn't even like his taste in music.

She realized then that she didn't really know Brian at all. She had clung to him. . .or the possibility of him. . .because he had represented what she thought she was losing as she came to terms with being the Uniter. That and the fact that she was just plain stubborn. The more people, and by people she meant Alek, was telling her she couldn't do something, the more she wanted to do it. And Alek had not been shy about his feelings about Brian.

"How's Alek?" Brian asked suddenly.

"I wish I knew," she answered, regretting her blunt honesty. Brian's face contorted in confusion and she gave a deprecating laugh. "He's on a trip. I haven't talked to him in a while."

Brian looked like he wanted to press the subject but decided to drop it. Again, they stared at each other, the awkward silence weighing heavily between them. Chloe decided to put them both out of their misery.

"Good luck in college," she said, standing to give him a hug good-bye. This one would be for keeps.

"You too," he said softly, and if it wasn't for her super-hearing, she probably wouldn't have heard it above the wind.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Chloe gasped and jerked out of the embrace at the sound of that familiar, accented voice. The one that sounded, as usual, completely pissed off.

"Alek!" she exclaimed, looking over Brian's shoulder to see him standing there, glaring at the both of them. He looked magnificent, in jeans and his usual, tight long sleeved shirt, this one a deep blue to bring out the color of his eyes. Eyes that were burning with anger.

"It's been barely a week," he spit out. He made a gesture at the two of them. "How long has this been going on? Did you run right back to him after hanging up the phone with me last week?"

"This is not. . ." Chloe began.

"And how cozy," Alek cut in, his voice bitter. "A cute little shopping trip for two huh?"

Chloe assessed the situation and could see why Alek would have mistakenly come to the wrong conclusion, but then again. . .after everything they had gone through at training camp, that she had gone through, a little benefit of the doubt would be nice.

Before she could say anything further, Alek gave her one last murderous glare before turning on his heels and stalking away, Mai-speed fully engaged.

"Oh for God's sakes," she cried. She ran after him and without even realizing it, tapped into her power so that she could move that much faster. In an instant, she had not only caught up with him, she had moved fast enough to place herself in front of him. She thrust out a hand, landing it firmly against his chest, which caused him to stop.

"Get out of the way."

"Not until you stop and listen."

"I don't think there's anything to be said."

"Are you kidding me?" Chloe shot back. "I jumped a freaking electrified fence for you, you stubborn ass. There's plenty to be said."

Alek looked like he was going to say something but then drew in a deep breath and she could feel him relaxing a bit underneath her hand, which was still firmly pressed against his chest. "Well?" Alek prompted after several seconds.

"Okay, first, that was not what it looked like." She indicated behind her where she had left Brian. "We just ran into each other and he's going back East to college so I was saying good-bye."

"Funny how your good-bye to him kinda looked like the one you said to me."

"You are seriously going to have to lose the attitude because I am this close to. . ."

"I can't believe I quit the group to come back here to you and you're with your human again."

"You quit that spy thing?" she asked, her heart swelling with hope and happiness.

"Chloe?"

She sighed. What had started out as a peaceful, a-little-too-boring day was quickly turning into one that was not and she very greatly missed the boringness right now. "Brian, could you. . ."

"Do you mind?" Alek bit out sharply. "I'm trying to have a conversation with my girlfriend."

"It looked more like you were just yelling at her."

Chloe felt Alek tense beneath her hand and she exerted just enough pressure to let him know not to do what she knew he was thinking. While Brian no longer played that role in her life, her mandate that Alek shouldn't hurt him still stood, mostly for Alek's sake. He would have a really hard time explaining things to the human authorities.

"It's none of your bloody business."

"How about I make it my business?"

Chloe sighed loudly. For two people from different species, they sure had a lot in common, namely bull-headed machismo driven by testosterone. "Will you two knock it off?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," said Brian, still glaring at Alek.

"She's just fine with me buddy," Alek returned with a sneer. "But you're a different story, especially if you don't get the hell out of here and leave us alone."

Chloe closed her eyes, and drew in a calming breath. Little did she know how much Angelo's mediation exercises would come in handy. She kept her hand firmly pressed against Alek's chest as she turned to Brian.

"Brian. . ." she began.

"You're the Uniter?"

She and Alek whipped around to face the voice. They found a man, dressed in clothes designed to let him fade into a crowd, neutral, bland colors that didn't stand out or draw attention, staring at her, a measure of disbelief on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Alek as he shifted so that he was now shielding a part of her.

The man ignored Alek, his eyes focused on Chloe, looking her up and down. She could feel Alek go rigid besides her and she laid a hand on his arm, holding him off for now. She glanced around quickly and was glad to see that there weren't a lot of people around, as it was midday on a weekday, when most people would be at work. Unfortunately, when Alek had stormed off, and she had followed him, and then Brian had followed her, they had ended up near the middle of the walkway that traversed the part of the Bay that lapped against this part of the pier. The only way out of there was either back in the direction they had come, which was now blocked by this man, or down the longer part of the walkway which wasn't exactly an easy or quick escape route.

"You're nothing but a bitty little girl," the man said.

"Who. The. Hell. Are. You." Alek repeated, with a lot more menace this time.

"The person who kills her," the man returned with a grim smile.

Chloe felt that familiar sensation of fear race to life within her and with it, that well of power begin to hum.

"Do you work for my father?" Brian demanded, taking a step toward the man which placed him roughly as close to Chloe as Alek was.

The man doffed his head at Brian. "Walk away," the man ordered. "Your father doesn't want you harmed."

"I'm not leaving so you can hurt her."

"Brian, maybe you should. . ."

The man shrugged. "My orders come from higher-up and if there's collateral damage. . .so be it."

The man reached into his pocket and Chloe thought he was going to pull out a gun, but instead he pulled out a small, dark object. He pressed something on it, a faint 'beep' sounded which her hearing had no problem picking up. Nor did Alek because he whirled on her, yelling,

"Run!"

She turned, pushing Brian ahead of her. She glanced back just in time to see the man toss whatever it was that had been in his hand. She ran, but altered her course so that she placed her body between the object and Alek and Brian, shielding them from whatever was about to happen. She heard a soft clank as whatever the man was holding landed several feet behind them and then seconds later, an ear-splitting explosion sounded before she felt the ground jolt beneath her feet before it gave way. The next thing she knew, she was thrown forward, launching her into both Alek and Brian.

Chloe was momentarily dazed, fear gripping her. Then remembering her training, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply and focusing with each breath. Seconds later, she opened her eyes and things were clearer. She saw that the walkway was cracking, and to her horror, the crack was running right under where Alek and Brian laid crumpled on the ground.

She stood, making her way to them, her feet shaky on the weakened concrete. A sickening creaking sound grew louder with each step she took and then, just like in training camp, everything seemed to be in slow motion. She saw Alek and Brian begin to stir, slowly getting to their feet, their expression still dazed. Alek seemed to regain his bearings much faster, but she saw the trail of blood on his forehead, indicating that he had suffered some kind of head trauma in the blast. Brian was looking around him in confusion, his eyes looked disoriented.

She scanned the area for the man who had tossed the grenade at them and could see him walking away from them, blending into the crowd of people who was converging on the area. She could also see that her guards were making their way towards her but in the confusion, it was hard to maneuver through the people rushing about. She returned her attention to Alek and Brian, making her way to them.

Again, that sickening creaking noise penetrated her consciousness, this time it was louder. To her utter horror, she saw the pieces of concrete walkway beneath Alek's and Brian's feet begin to crumble away, like it was made of nothing more than sand. She saw Alek's eyes widen as he looked around, assessing his situation. Brian stumbled backwards, bumping into Alek, knocking them both off-kilter.

More pieces of concrete flaked off and Alek and Brian, already unsteady and off-balance, were knocked completely off their feet, both of them plunging into the cold, dark waters of the Bay. In their disoriented, injured state, they would be no match for the current of the Bay, nor could they withstand the shock of the cold water. Chloe felt a flood of fear and panic surge in her and she pushed herself forward.

In the next instant, she was in front of their falling figures, reaching out. She concentrated with all her might, but even with all that power at her disposal, she couldn't save them both. They were falling into the waters in opposite directions and as fast as she could move, there was simply no way for her to grab one, switch directions and grab the other in time. She could only save one of them.

She didn't have to think of her choice, because there really was no choice.

Moving on sheer instinct and raw power, Chloe lunged forward and grabbed Alek's arm, pulling with everything she had. She felt a jerk as she caught him just before he hit the water and then yanked, feeling his body weight come forward until they landed with a soft thud against the more solid part of the walkway.

"Alek," she breathed, wrapping her arms around him, holding him tightly against her.

She held him for long moments, thankful that she had managed to catch him in time. Then she remembered that she hadn't been able to stop Brian from falling into the water. She sat up, wanting to go see if there was still a chance that she could save him when she felt an intense, searing pain in her lower back. She crumpled to the ground, sucking in air.

She let out a cry, which seemed to rouse Alek because he was instantly by her side, cradling her in his arms.

"Chloe?" His eyes frantically scanned her for injuries as his hands moved up and down her body. When they reached her right side, near her hip, that pain returned and she curled up against it. Alek instantly withdrew his hand and she saw that his hand was smeared with blood.

Alek looked panic-stricken as he stared at his bloodied hand. He gently turned her over, delicately lifting her shirt to check the injured area. When he turned her back over, the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"It's bad huh?" she said, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu. She could feel herself getting pulled under by this vast swell of blackness, of nothingness. She knew what it was, she had been there before.

Death.

"It's. . ." Alek swallowed, looking around as if a solution would manifest. "You'll be okay. It's. . ." He was breathing hard now, his face contorted in fear. "Shrapnel. . .from the. . .you'll be okay."

"Alek. . ." Her voice sounded so faint to her and she felt herself helpless from giving into the void of nothingness.

"No, Chloe. . ." His hand cupped her face. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked down at her. "Please. . .I. . .I love you."

It was the last thing she heard as she sank into the darkness.


	16. Conclusion

And here we are. . .at the end!

Thank you all so, so much for all the support and love for this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I am touched by all the alerts and reviews and messages. I am sorry I could not respond to all of them personally. . .as you can tell by the lengthy time between updates. . .I had a busy, often unpredictable schedule. But believe me I read each message and review and was touched by many of them.

Also, congrats to those of you who managed to get the show into development as a TV movie. If I ever need to launch an Internet campaign for anything - I want you on my side! :)

Thanks again for reading!

###

REDEMPTION - CONCLUSION

Dying always felt weird.

This was the third time for her and Chloe didn't think she'd ever get used to it. One minute there was searing pain and an empty, dark void and then the next, there was nothingness.

And then she was suddenly back in Alek's arms, the world just as she had remembered. It was like she had disappeared, only to return moments later. Disappeared where she didn't know, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Alek, however, looked distinctly more distraught than she had remembered. His eyes were closed, his face contorted with pain and anguish.

"Alek. . ." she murmured. She paused to shift slightly and realized that she felt stronger than ever. No pain, no weakness. It really was like she had been reborn. His eyes shot open and a myriad of emotions danced across his face. Relief. Guilt. Worry. She tried to sit up but Alek resisted her movements. "Alek. . ."

"Chloe you shouldn't. . ."

"I am fine," she insisted, moving his hand from her shoulder and sitting up. "Really." She touched the trail of blood on his forehead. "What about you?"

He shrugged off her concern. "You. . .died," he rasped, a haunted look in his eyes.

"I'm fine," she insisted, getting to her feet.

"I'm sorry, I. . ."

She held up a hand, silencing him. "Hold that thought because believe me, I want to hear that apology but first things first." Chloe closed her eyes, focusing her energy as she had been taught. Then she quickly filtered out all the sounds, zeroing in on a single voice. When she located it, she swiveled her head in the direction it was coming from, homing in on it until she managed to pinpoint it. She opened her eyes, letting her vision sharpen but he was simply too far away for her to see. The crowds of people also didn't help.

"Miss, are you okay. . ." A man came up to ask her.

"I'm fine!" Chloe shot back, tired of the question already. She turned to Alek. "Come on!"

Not giving him a chance to respond, she took off. She used both her speed and agility to weave through the throngs of people, drawn to the disaster like moths to a flame. As she cleared the crowd, it became much easier to move and to catch up to her prey. In a few minutes, she spotted him and increased her speed. He spotted her just as she was closing in and began to run in an evasive way, down alleys and into crowded streets.

But Chloe was determined and never lost sight of him. She closed in on him more and more until he made an error in judgment, turning into a dead-end alley. He stopped short at the sight of the tall wall and emitted a curse. Then he slowly turned and faced Chloe. They stared at each other for a beat before the man wordlessly reached into his pocket.

This time it was a gun. But this time, Chloe was prepared. She sprinted for the wall, using it like a springboard to launch herself up. She did a somersault and landed behind the man before he could even fire off a shot, much less turn around. Just as he sensed that she was behind him, she kicked him, hard, right between the shoulder blades, sending him flying down the alley. He crashed into a pile of cardboard boxes left out for recycling and the gun flew out of his hand, clattering down the alley.

Before he could get up, Chloe pounced on him, her knee on his solar plexus, pinning him to the ground. Her claws extending, she gripped his neck, as one long talon pressed up against his jugular.

"Who's an itty bitty girl now?" she hissed, feeling a surge of anger as she recalled what had happened just moments ago. And as her anger increased, so too did her desire to just sink her claws into his neck.

"Chloe!"

"Alek, I've got this."

"Don't hurt him."

She swiveled her head to look at Alek, keeping her grip firmly on the man's neck. "What? He tried to kill you! He killed Brian."

"Brian's fine." Alek made a face. "Well, he will be. He's on his way to the hospital."

"W-what?"

"One of your guards fished him out of the water. He has a concussion and is a little waterlogged but nothing that a stay in the hospital couldn't fix." Alek shrugged. "Sucks for him he doesn't have super healing abilities."

"Doesn't change what he did," Chloe said, turning her attention back to the man, who was lying perfectly still since he was well aware of how close her claw was to slicing open his jugular.

"You don't want to hurt him," said Alek. "That's not you."

"That was the old me," she shot back. "That one died."

"Chloe."

"I'm sick of these people harming innocents and doing whatever they want. And for what? Some stupid war?" Chloe stood up, dragging the man to his feet as she did so. "A war that neither of us has anything to do with? Nor did Brian, or my Dad. Or your parents! It's stupid!" At her last words, she threw the man against a wall, full force. His body smashed into the bricks with a heavy thud before he crumpled into the ground, unconscious.

"That's one way to get him under control," Alek noted.

"And you. . ." Chloe turned on him.

Alek held up his hands. "Whoa, easy. . ."

"What the hell was that back there?"

"What?"

"The whole irrational jealous boyfriend act."

"It wasn't an act."

"That's the problem."

"Well, what did you expect? I fly halfway around the world and I find you with your idiot human again. . ."

"He's not my human." She shot him an irritated look. "I hate that phrase by the way. "My human" makes it sound like he's my pet or something." Alek opened his mouth to say something but she held up a hand to silence him. "A smartass remark is not going to help you here."

Alek clamped his mouth closed. "Nothing to say then."

"Oh you have something to say, it starts with "I'm" and the next word rhymes with "starry"."

"Why don't you tell me what you were doing with him anyway?"

"I already told you,' she shot back. "We ran into each other."

"That's convenient, in a city of 800,000 people, you and your hu-. . .that guy just happen to run into each other? And then we're all suddenly attacked?"

"Yeah, that is convenient," mumbled Chloe, as her mind raced. "What are the odds of that?"

Alek had picked up on the fact that she was focused on something else. "What?"

"How'd he find us?" Chloe asked with a nod at the unconscious man. "I mean how'd he know that I'd be there? I was wandering around today, doing shopping at a lot of different places and I know I wasn't followed."

"Maybe not you."

"Brian?" Chloe shook her head. "He was never a part of this. . .besides, he could have died."

"I'm not saying he's in on it but they probably followed him just in case he decided to make contact with you." Alek shrugged. "He always was a little stalkerish."

"And that would make you what?" Chloe shot back teasingly.

"A dutiful Mai following orders," Alek returned smugly, not missing a beat.

"Oh, right," she said with a laugh. "You and your duties." She took a few steps toward him, causing him to back up slightly. "What?"

"Your claws are still. . ."

Chloe looked down and was surprised to see that her claws were still extended. She focused and the next instant they popped back in. "He really pissed me off. Dying really pissed me off." She leveled him with a steely gaze. "You really pissed me off."

"Can you blame me? I was. . ."

"Alek, I still haven't heard those two very important words and I'm still slightly pissed off."

They stared at each other for long moments before Alek sighed. He glanced at the man on the ground before he exhaled and said softly,

"I'm sorry. I acted like an irrational, jealous boyfriend."

In the next instant, Chloe launched herself into his arms, causing him to stagger backwards, falling against the wall of the alleyway. "Oof!" Alek grunted, but his arms held her tightly against him.

Chloe wrapped her arms tightly around Alek's shoulders and buried her face into his neck, relishing the feel of holding him again, something she had wanted to do from the moment she had laid eyes on him. "You came back," she whispered against his ear, pure giddy happiness washing over her.

"I told you I would."

"I really missed you."

"Me too."

Chloe smiled against his neck before she pulled back so that she could look into his eyes. "Say it again."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"What you said before I. . .went away."

Alek looked like he was going to deflect her request but his face grew serious as he stared into her eyes. Then ever-so-slowly, he reached up and cupped her face tenderly, letting his thumb caress her cheek. "I love you."

Chloe sighed happily, closing her eyes and letting the words sink into her very being. It had been a very long, very difficult, often very painful road to get to this point with Aleck and she wanted to savor it. It wasn't a triumph for her, she didn't feel like she had won her battle with Alek. Rather, she felt like she had redeemed a part of herself, that having Alek tell her he loved her meant that she was finally becoming who she was supposed to be, someone that she had been fighting all these months.

"I love you too," she whispered, meeting his eyes.

"I know."

She laughed. "You are never not going to be cocky and arrogant and overbearing are you?"

"And you are never not going to be impetuous and impulsive and a bit reckless are you?"

"Nope," she said with a big smile.

"Me neither," returned Alek with an equally big grin.

They shared a laugh before their lips, as if on their own accord, drew together. The kiss was sweet and passionate at the same time. Chloe savored every moment of it, every sensation, every taste, every movement. Her brush with death, each one, reinforced for her just how precious and dear moments like this were, especially since she had come so close to losing Alek so recently. She may have 6 more lives but she was learning that there was no guarantee. . .except for what was happening right then and there. All anyone had was the here and now and she was starting to appreciate that the more lives she expended.

They finally broke the kiss because even the Mai needed some oxygen. Chloe leaned her head against Alek's, reluctant to break the physical contact between them. This moment was so idyllic, so near perfect that she hated to do anything to ruin it but she also needed to ask Alek something.

"Alek, do you trust me?"

Her question was met with silence, which made her nervous, until Alek said softly,

"With my life."

She angled her head so that she could look at his face, to gauge his expression. "Really?"

He nodded, his expression resolute, showing no doubt or hesitation. "I think I always trusted you in a way but the whole thing with your. . .that guy. . .it threw me and I had to pull back, protect myself."

She nodded. "I understand. I didn't exactly give you a lot of reasons to trust me."

"I am sorry about what happened before we were attacked but seeing you with him. . .it triggered some stuff."

Chloe smiled. "You think?"

Alek laughed wryly. "Maybe I do have some things in common with humans."

"They're not all bad. You like Amy and Paul right?"

"'Like' is a pretty strong word." Chloe slapped him on the shoulder. "Ow. Someone wasn't paying attention during all those control sessions with Angelo."

"I'm sorry." She leaned in and kissed his cheek softly. "Better?"

"That's not where you hit me, although the pain's kind of spreading around so. . ."

Chloe laughed. "First things first." She looked at the still unconscious man on the ground. "What do we do with him? What about what happened at the walkway?"

Alek looked impressed. "Valentina has contacts with the San Francisco PD as well as federal authorities. They'll write this up as a random attack by some mentally unhinged psychopath." Alek inclined his head toward the man on the ground. "As for him, we'll call your guards and they'll take him to Valentina. She'll have some questions for him."

"Efficient," said Chloe.

"We've had to learn how to adjust to meddling humans with too many questions." Alek said it seriously but Chloe could see that he wasn't entirely, as there was a teasing gleam in his eye. She knew his distrust for humans ran deep but that, like his initial reaction to her, that distrust also seemed to be thawing. Alek would never love humans or place himself firmly on "their side" but she also knew that he was starting to see that not all humans were the same, that there were some who could be good allies, even friends.

"When do you think they'll get here?" Chloe asked him, looking around for signs of her guards. She had moved some fast in her relentless tracking of the assailant that she was a little surprised that Alek had kept up, so she should give her guards some time to find them. Besides, they were probably busy with Brian. Chloe sighed.

"What?" Alek asked, picking up on the way her body tensed.

"Are you sure Brian's going to be okay?"

Alek's expression remained neutral but she could see that flare of jealousy in his eyes. But when he responded, it was calm, business-like. "He should be. He wasn't in the water long and he only had a slight concussion from the blast."

"His father's going to hate us even more."

"That's absurd," Alek shot back. "It was the Order that nearly killed him."

Chloe sighed. "That's not how he's going to see it. He's going to see it as me endangering his son once again."

"Stupid humans."

"I kind of understand. All that hate. . .all the anger. . .years of violence. . .no one's seeing anything straight anymore."

"We can't just give in to them," Alek protested, his voice taking on an edge.

"I didn't say we should. I just. . .this whole thing is stupid. This war, everything." She shook her head. "I hate it. I'll always hate it but I am also not going to back down. I'm not going to let them hurt anyone I love ever again so if they want a fight, that's what they'll get."

Alek smiled. "I'm glad you're on our side."

"I'll bet," Chloe replied. She pushed the negative thoughts related to the impending escalation of the war with the Order from her mind. There was plenty of time to worry about that later. "Are you really back for good?"

Alek nodded. "Angelo did mention something about me serving as a teaching assistant for the camp next summer but I'm not going anywhere until then."

"Does that mean you'll be going to school?"

"Someone has to keep an eye on you," he teased.

Chloe smiled. "I think you'd make a really good teacher at that camp."

Alek's expression lit up with pride. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "You were really good with me and I know I wasn't easy."

"Definitely not."

"Are you still going to train with me?"

"You'll have to promise not to kick me into any walls."

"Don't give me any reason to," she mock threatened him.

Alek grinned. "Oh, I am nothing but a gentleman, Chloe King."

"Right."

"You doubt me?" challenged Alek as he began pressing feathery light kisses along her jaw and then down her neck. Chloe shivered as the scratchy hair on his jaw brushed against the delicate sking of her neck. "I guess I'm just going to have to convince you."

Chloe angled her head and captured his lips for a searing kiss, holding the promise of more, much more. "Oh, but for what I have in mind, I don't think I'd want a gentleman."

Alek laughed. "Aren't you frisky?"

"I have really missed you." Chloe kissed him again. "Really."

Alek groaned as he looked around. "Where are those bloody guards?"

Chloe laughed. "Easy, there." She leaned her head against his shoulder as she felt him wrap his arms tighter around her. "You know it's going to be hard to explain to my mother about us. . .not to mention, we're gonna have to sneak around again. She's not big on co-ed sleepovers."

"We'll figure it out."

"I'll have to tell her eventually."

"I know," Alek said softly, his hand stroking her back comfortingly. "And when you're ready, I'll be there with you if you need me."

"Thank you," Chloe said before she closed her eyes, just relishing the feeling of being held by Alek. Sure there was an unconscious assassin steps away from them who was about to be taken into custody by her Mai guards for. . .who knows what? And the fight with the Order was just beginning which meant she'd have to worry about her friends' and mother's safety. And she still had to learn how to control the incredible power within in her, all while pretending to be a normal teenage girl.

And she and Alek. . .something told her they'd never settle into an easy-going relationship. They loved each other, trusted each other with their lives but they were still them so she knew there was going to be a lot of head-butting, arguments and outright fights in their future.

But that meant making up too.

The future wasn't perfect. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of dangers, but for once in her lives, Chloe wasn't scared to face it. For once she felt ready to tackle all the challenges. Somehow, things finally felt right. Right there in Alek's arms, everything finally felt right.

_The End_


End file.
